Unova's Rebirth
by Apprentice Witch
Summary: Zekrom and Reshiram have chosen new heroes, and are determined to continue defending their own side of a thousand-year-old feud. Their new heroes have their own goals, Zekrom's to conquer and Reshiram's to preserve the peace. Is the conflict from a millennium ago relevant today? AU, game/anime crossover, sequel to new hero of truth/ideals.
1. Heroes of New

_Author's Notes_  
_This is a sequel to New Heroes of Truth & New Hero of Ideals. Do you need to have read both/either to read this? Nope, if you've read one, both, or none this might just end up being a weird AU for all. (Though it will more or less 'spoil' both.)_

_For those of you who haven't, this fic mixes canon of early pokemon anime (AU - characters age normally and Ash went to Unova after Johto instead of Hoenn) and BW/B2W2 games (AU - differences will become apparent as you read. All BW characters are game based even though it's an anime crossover). The pairings of the previous fanfics were Iris/Bianca and Jessie/James, and there will be some kind of romance in this fic too._

_For those of you who have read one/both, this will first take place during the end of the previous stories, then move on. Previous 'ships' are secondary to other things here, but still present._

* * *

**1**  
**Heroes of New**

Drayden stood in front of the island, recalling when it was simply a mass of land out in the open that anyone could visit at their own peril. But now the boundaries between the pokemon's preserved land, including whatever they wished to hide, were clearly distinguished. Drayden was over on the 'safe' side, but even being this close might be considered a threat. He had to be prepared.

Drayden took out the pokeballs that Iris had handed to him when she refused to come back with him. "It'll be alright, Drayden. Zekrom is just looking for its hero. It even wanted to consider me!" Iris had said.

Drayden thought about it further as he threw out the pokeballs containing the munna. Iris had claimed to have seen Reshiram a while ago, and now Zekrom was well. Drayden believed her on both accounts, though was hesitant to believe that Zekrom itself was real. After all, he'd seen Zekrom himself years ago. That was an illusion, he'd decided in the time since. But with all of the recent events, he couldn't deny that it might be real.

Because Reshiram was real. It had appeared in the exact spot Iris had claimed to have seen it. A girl had caught it in a pokeball, then showed it to Drayden along with everyone else who was around. Reshiram's existence was now undeniable. That was enough to make Drayden seriously consider if both his and Iris's encounters with Zekrom, more or less in the exact same place with several decades in-between, were real or not. His answer was leaning toward yes.

"Did Zekrom test you to be its hero?" Drayden had asked Iris, recalling what had happened to him.

"No," Iris had admitted sheepishly. "It asked me if it could, but there was no point, huh? You know me. I don't really know anything about going for my ideals."

Drayden disagreed. Iris had been brimming with her ideals from the moment he'd met her. Through her own will and efforts, she continued to meet them, though it had been only recently that it had entered her mind how painful it would be to fail. Still, Drayden was confident that Zekrom would have been impressed by her. All the better that she didn't accept its 'test', then.

Because there was no need for Zekrom in this region. A conflict between ancient powerful pokemon was definitely undesirable. It would be better for Drayden to catch Zekrom, then keep it far away from Reshiram somehow. He wasn't sure he could do that, but he wanted to go to Entralink and at least witness Zekrom for himself.

Using a flying pokemon to go to other side, Drayden began to look around. The many munna who inhabited the area hadn't started to bother him yet. They'd seen him on and off over the years, so maybe they wouldn't. Still, Drayden kept on his guard as he walked around.

Then he saw something he definitely wasn't expecting. Was this a remnant from the previous incident? No, Drayden realized as he saw the foreign pokemon and human woman standing next to the hot air balloon. They were definitely here. It made sense, as the other human of the pair was found around where Reshiram had been spotted.

"Don't you know better than to visit here?" Drayden said aloud, without bothering with a greeting.

The woman usually had some trace of discretion around him. But now she just smirked, snickering at his comment. "Oh, it's you, old man. You might as well leave. We're on our way out, too."

"That's a good idea," Drayden said. "I've heard from several sources there was a dangerous pokemon here. You didn't spot it yourself, did you?"

"You mean Zekrom?" she asked, still smirking.

"Perhaps," Drayden admitted.

The pokemon at the woman's feet had a large, unsettling grin on its face as it poked its head out of the basket and looked at Drayden. "Jessie caught it," the pokemon said.

Drayden frowned. "You don't claim you've caught Zekrom yourself, do you?" he asked.

"I didn't say anything like that at all," she continued. "But it is what happened," she said, holding up a pokeball.

"Wobbuffet!" the other pokemon present agreed.

"I don't think this was the wisest thing you could have done. You should have stayed back at home, far away from Unova," Drayden said.

"Whatever," Jessie said, rolling her eyes. "I have your legendary pokemon, and there's nothing you can do about it. Don't be such a sore loser."

Drayden frowned. There really was nothing he could do about it if it was Zekrom in that pokeball, and he had a strong feeling it was. Zekrom was a pokemon that would go where it pleased with who it pleased. But was this kind of person, a known criminal, really the type it wanted to choose as 'hero'? Drayden became angry thinking about it, though he was mostly angry at himself. He shouldn't have underestimated this group.

"Let's go, Meowth, Wobbuffet," the woman said, getting into the hot air balloon without another comment to Drayden.

"Your partner failed," Drayden said, unsure of why he might mention it.

With that, Jessie did pay attention to Drayden, narrowing her eyes at him. "How would you know anything about what he's doing?"

"I saw him at Dragonspiral tower. He was badly injured from what I saw," Drayden said plainly.

Now the woman was paying him mind, jumping out of her hot air balloon and running over to him. "Where is he now?" she demanded.

Drayden answered her easily. With this, he now had something to easily keep track of Zekrom. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that Zekrom had chosen her, considering the situation. She may just go back to her own region, leaving Unova in peace. That was the best he could hope for, in any case.

* * *

A few days later, Drayden answered the door, greeting two visitors at his house. He nodded to both of them. "Good afternoon."

"Good afternoon," Bianca repeated. "I met up with Ash on my way here. He said he's coming to see you too."

"Not to see me," Drayden said. As he opened the door a little wider, a pokemon came running out.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted, jumping out of Drayden's mansion and into Ash's arms.

"Pikachu!" Ash said, hugging his pokemon friend. "Thank you, Drayden."

"Why don't you come in a moment? Since you've already come all this way," Drayden said.

Ash nodded, stepping in with Bianca. They sat at the table, making small talk as Drayden prepared tea. Iris was the first to come in the room, however. "Bianca..." she said, then peered at the person across from here. "Oh, and Ash. I thought you'd be around soon," Iris said.

"Hey, Iris," Ash pleasantly greeted the younger girl. "I guess you helped take care of my pikachu?"

"Of course. I wanted it to be healthy for when you challenged me again," Iris said.

"Oh? You've battled before?" Bianca said.

"Sure did," Iris confirmed. "I told Drayden Pikachu was probably your's when I saw it."

"You really helped Pikachu out, huh," Ash said. Then he frowned, his demeanor changing. "It was Team Rocket that captured it, wasn't it?"

"Yeah," Iris said sheepishly.

"I should have known they hadn't really changed," Ash said.

"Yeah... We've known they were probably up to no good since they were working at our gym. We didn't really do much good ourselves with stopping them, huh?" Iris admitted.

"I'm just glad to find Pikachu. It was really underhanded what they did this time..." Ash said.

"I bet," Iris said with a nod. "You wouldn't believe what happened on Entralink."

"That's enough, Iris," Drayden said, interrupting her as was about to tell the story.

"Huh? What is that? What happened there?" Ash asked.

Drayden sighed. "You might hear through some other source. I don't want you going after them again, Ash."

"It's not me that goes after them! They're always doing stuff like trying to capture Pikachu for their own!" Ash insisted.

"Pikachu," Pikachu agreed seriously.

"If that's the case there should be no problem with you not approaching them, correct?" Drayden said.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "But what happened?"

"That women... What's her name... Jessie? Yeah, she was the one that Zekrom picked and its new hero," Iris explained.

"What?" Ash said, standing up. "They have to be tricking Zekrom somehow!"

"Calm down. I'm sure that's not the case," Drayden said.

"I know it is," Ash said. "We've got to get them. We've got to save Zekrom. Drayden, Iris! How can you sit around here like this when you already know what's happening?"

"Hey," Iris said, suddenly offended. "There's nothing we can do, you know. Zekrom was looking for a hero, and thought she'd be fine. Even if we could jump in and tell it that it's wrong, that wouldn't be right for us to force our opinion!"

"Zekrom's definitely being tricked. I know it is!" Ash said.

"Pikachu!" Pikachu added.

"Listen..." Ash insisted seriously. "I saw them do a lot of terrible stuff back in Johto reason... Team Rocket, I mean. I thought these two were different. But they aren't! We have to save Zekrom."

Iris sighed and shrugged. "There's no reasoning with you, is there?" she said. She glanced at Drayden, knowing what he was thinking. He did tell her to be cautious with what she said to anyone. Iris thought Ash would be an exception, since he knew Team Rocket already, but it turned out he was just the worst person possible to tell.

"Reshiram isn't worried," Bianca added.

"Pika?" Pikachu turned toward the quiet girl who now spoken up.

"Reshiram isn't?" Ash said, furrowing his brow in confusion.

"Huh?" Iris said, sitting up in her chair. "You mean you walked up here with her, and you don't even know who she is?"

"I do!" Ash insisted. "She's Bianca. My friend Gary knows her from his job I think."

"You really don't!" Iris said, now jumping out of her seat.

"It's fine, Iris," Bianca said. "I don't need everyone to know 'who' I am."

"A wise choice," Drayden said.

"Yeah, fine," Iris said, calming down as she sat back down in her seat. There was definitely some merit in that.

"I do know who you are though," Ash said, turning toward Bianca. "You are Bianca, right?"

"Yes," Bianca confirmed, smiling with brief amusement.

"Pikapi," Pikachu sighed. It knew the significance behind 'who', because it had been right there when Bianca had jumped into the tower and thrown herself between Reshiram and James, then afterward been chosen as Reshiram's very own hero. It knew Ash wasn't going to read into what she was saying and figure that out, though.

"But anyway... We should do something to stop them, from whatever it is that they're planning," Ash continued.

"It's okay," Bianca assured. "Reshiram isn't worried about whoever Zekrom chose. So I'm not worried either."

Ash looked at Bianca, then back at the table, nodding though he still frowned. He sat in silence as everyone else continued the light conversation.

"So, Ash, are you going to battle me again while you're here?" Iris said.

"No," Ash said. "I have to go do something first."

Drayden shook his head and Iris sighed. They both could guess what that 'something' might be, and probably wouldn't be able to convince him not to. They continued their tea, before a distracted Ash left.

* * *

Ash knew that only one plane left directly to Kanto a week, the same as one came in. His mother had told him about it often when he'd called. "I don't know how long you plan to stay there, Ash. But you could come back and visit me. Those planes leave once a week. I could get you a ticket!" she'd said.

There was no guarantee that Team Rocket would be heading back to Kanto, or if they were that they'd go by plane, and if they went by plane that they'd take this exact direct flight. But Ash waited there with Pikachu like it was a sure thing. Then, luckily enough, the group appeared. "Where are you going, Team Rocket?" Ash asked.

Jessie, James and Meowth turned around, facing him. "Well, look who it is," Jessie said.

"Oh, so the twerp came to visit us," James said.

"And Pikachu, too! Wanna come back and meet our boss, Pikachu?" Meowth asked.

"Pika," Pikachu said, shunning them by turning its head.

"It might be nice to take back Pikachu," Jessie said thoughtfully. "But we have a much bigger prize already. So we don't have time to waste with Pikachu, we need to hurry back and give this other pokemon to the boss."

"Zekrom, right?" Ash said.

"That's right," Jessie said firmly.

"You guys can't just do that. Zekrom's a legendary pokemon that belongs here!" Ash insisted. "I don't know how you tricked or trapped it, but you should just let it go now. You shouldn't use it for whatever Team Rocket wants."

"It's just too bad, huh Jessie?" James said, grinning widely. Meowth snickered.

"Yeah. We're going to take back Zekrom and let the boss use it in his plans for world domination. We're sure to get all the recognition and promotions we've deserved," Jessie said with a shrug.

"Just let Zekrom go!" Ash shouted. He lunged at Jessie, and tried to take her bag. He'd release Zekrom right in that moment.

"Hey. What's with you, kid?" James said, changing his expression to look scared and frightened.

"Someone, help!" Jessie shouted.

Several people did come to help Jessie, grabbing Ash and pulling him away from her. "Let go! I have to save it," Ash said. He was just yanked further and further away.

"Thanks so much. I wasn't sure what to do," James said to one of the people that had helped.

"He just started attacking me out of nowhere," Jessie said.

"There must be something wrong with him," James said.

"Mentally," Meowth added.

"Miss, would you like to report him to security?" a bystander asked.

"No, I really need to get to my flight," Jessie said, making her way out. "I just hope he doesn't bother anyone else for no reason."

"You liars!" Ash shouted as they walked away, into the secured area. He wanted to make a lunge for them again.

"Calm down. Your consequences won't be so slight if you continue," a person spoke blankly.

Ash looked behind himself, noticing that there was one person left holding him back. He did calm down, and the person let go. Ash frowned, clenching his jaw. "Pikachu," Pikachu said hatefully as it watched Team Rocket heading into the plane without obstruction. Ash felt the same.

"Come on, Pikachu," Ash said, heading toward them.

"Now you'll drag this pokemon into this? Don't be so selfish."

"I'm not!" Ash insisted, turning behind himself to face the long haired, blank eyed stranger. "You don't know anything. You don't know who they are, or what they're doing."

"That woman is Zekrom's chosen hero of this age, correct?" the man said now.

"That's right. But it's a trick somehow. They're members of Team Rocket. So I have to help Zekrom," Ash said.

"Zekrom doesn't need your help. It wouldn't have gone with her except by its own will," the man informed.

"So then Zekrom's a bad guy?" Ash said. "It's going to help Team Rocket terrorize Kanto, and Johto, and other regions? Kanto's my home, you know! I can't just sit by while that happens."

The man stared away, out to the ocean, still calm. "There's no need to worry about that, either," he said.

"But you just said-"

"Even if Zekrom wanted to do things like that, Unova's the only region which is able to be molded by its ideals."

"Huh? What does that even mean?" Ash said.

"It means Zekrom will have absolutely no impact on your home region at all."

With that, the stranger turned and walked away. Ash stood there, taking a deep breath. He saw several people looking over at him warily. He really had been acting rashly, hadn't he.

"Come on, Pikachu," Ash said. Instead of heading toward the secured area to confront Team Rocket again, Ash and Pikachu headed away from the area. The situation was frustrating, but there was nothing left he could do except hope that Zekrom really could handle itself when brought back to the rocket's den.


	2. Zekrom's Claim

**2**  
**Zekrom's Claim**

Flying through the sky, the whole world was open below her. Instead of being on the slower-moving hot air balloon, Jessie was on the incredibly fast legendary pokemon, Zekrom. They could move as quickly as needed, and travel wherever they wanted. The sensation was pleasant and smooth, much better than any other form of travel. "Hey, Zekrom," Jessie said.

"What is it?" Zekrom asked.

"You can move a little faster, can't you?" Jessie said.

"Yes," Zekrom confirmed. "I wouldn't want to put you in danger, though."

"Hmph. Don't worry about me. No matter how quickly you go, I'll be able to hang on. So go faster!" Jessie ordered.

"Right!" Zekrom said.

It moved faster and faster now. The wind blew Jessie's hair all around, but she only felt more powerful as she watched the landscape below them. They flew over a familiar round landform. "Where are we, Zekrom?" Jessie asked.

"The only place we could have been headed. Unova, my region!" Zekrom said.

"I want to go back home to Kanto," Jessie said. "So move it! Let's get over there, quick."

Zekrom only flew ahead. Jessie saw more familiar landmarks, such as the Dragonspiral tower, the flashy city of Nimbasa, and the tall buildings of Castelia. Then she saw Entralink again. "Hey, Zekrom. You're starting to annoy me. You're just going in circles. Go back to Kanto already!" Jessie ordered.

"Hmph." Zekrom almost seemed to mock her as it continued. Jessie felt increasingly annoyed, and not only that, cold. Couldn't they go back home already? She didn't want to be here, she wanted to be back at the Team Rocket base, showing off as she landed.

So Jessie shouted another order. This time, the sound of her voice was caught up in the increasing wind. Zekrom was going way too fast now. But anything she said was lost in the loud sound around them. Zekrom couldn't follow her orders, since it couldn't hear them. And damn it, they were still above Unova, no signs of another region were anywhere around. They just went faster and faster, only over Unova.

Though Jessie had easily held on securely before, she was sure she might fall now. Yes, it was getting colder, and she couldn't really feel her arms anymore to know if she were hanging on properly or not. She shouted at Zekrom to slow down, to get out of stinking Unova, or just to land already, but it didn't hear her. She was definitely going to fall now. Jessie let go.

Jessie opened her eyes. It really was cold. Damn it, the cold air was influencing her weird dream. Looking around the cramped, dimly lit room, Jessie saw that James and Meowth were already up. "Why is it so cold in here?" she said.

"Hey, don't look at me," Meowth said. "James said it was a little warm, guess he turned on the AC."

"Just turn down that thing already," Jessie said.

"Right, Jessie," James said, and went to the window unit to do so.

Jessie stood up to steal the blanket off James's bed. Then she stopped, heading for a drawer. Opening it up, she took the pokeball out and stared at it. There was nothing abnormal about it. Other than it was empty and really shouldn't be. Had it ever seemed heavier before? Did any of her pokeballs with pokemon in them seem heavier than the ones that were empty?

"Come on Jess, you aren't thinking about that again, are you?" Meowth said.

"Oh," James said, turning around and looking at Jessie staring at the pokeball.

"Don't worry about what I'm thinking about," Jessie said, throwing the pokeball back into the drawer as if she'd never cared about what was supposed to be in there at all.

"Hey, it wasn't just you," Meowth said. "I was sure I'd seen everything too."

"Me too," James said. "I mean, when you let Zekrom out of its pokemon, it looked-"

"Can we shut up about all that already? It's been years by now," Jessie said. "Unova was nothing but a giant madhouse. We need to forget we were ever there. Zekrom doesn't exist, and Reshiram probably doesn't either."

James and Meowth silent. How many times had they had similar conversations over the past few years? How long had it taken them to finally accept this much? They'd thought they'd had a great success, only to have the pokemon they'd acquired never have been real in the first place. Staying in Kanto, they'd still not been able to get ahead.

"Yeah," Meowth said, hopping to the floor. "I've got other stuff to do today. Later."

Jessie got back into bed as Meowth went out the door, putting the other blanket on top of her. It really was cold. Damn it, James, Jessie thought to herself, scowling.

"Jessie, are you alright?" James asked.

"Just fine," Jessie said, realizing she probably didn't sound terribly convincing. She shivered as she got back under the covers. "I'm just not feeling that great."

"You don't look sick," James said.

"I'm not, I just don't feel well," Jessie said. She blushed as James invited himself into bed with her. "What are you doing, James," she muttered, looking away and frowning.

"Is it alright?" James asked.

"Yeah," Jessie said, still looking away as he cuddled next to her. He didn't have any thought in particular by joining her like this, anyway, she knew.

Still, James did lean close to kiss her, and she kissed him back. Jessie enjoyed the feeling of him next to her, and him touching her body as they continued. Finally, she pulled away. "That's enough, isn't it, James?" she said.

James said nothing, but his expression seemed to plead that it actually was. "We can do more Jessie. If that's what you want, I mean."

"No, I think that's enough," Jessie said. She actually did want more, but also didn't want James to do it just for her sake. It would piss her off if he did, and he probably would. No need to fool herself into thinking they both felt the same. Jessie sat up, hugging her knees so she wouldn't be tempted lay down and get close to him again.

James slipped out of the bed, standing up again. "Meowth had something to do today already," he noted. It was a day off for them, and the first in a while. "Did you want to go somewhere today?"

"Don't you have some place to go today yourself?" Jessie asked.

"Hm? Where?" James asked.

"How about to visit your kid?"

"Oh, right," James said. "That's a good idea. He won't have class today. Do you want to come with me?"

"I just told you I wasn't feeling well," Jessie said. "Besides, you know I hate dealing with brats," she added. She hadn't met James and Cassidy's kid, and didn't plan on it, now or ever. At least, she wouldn't go out of her way to do so.

"Right... I hope you feel better, Jessie," James said.

Then he was finally gone. Jessie felt a little lonely upon him leaving, and started to get annoyed that he hadn't just forgotten about the brat and stayed with her. Of course, that would have pissed her off too. There really wasn't anything he could do that wouldn't right now, she admitted to herself.

"Why don't you rid yourself of him?"

Jessie looked up. Zekrom was in front of her. Of course, it couldn't fit into her tiny dorm room. No, whenever she had these delusions she always appeared in some kind of mystical looking place, a large room, or like now, a flowery plain, with perfect weather of course. "Why would I want to do that?" Jessie asked.

"You know the answer to that yourself. He causes you nothing but suffering, recalling every one of your ideals that's failed to be met."

Jessie looked at Zekrom humorlessly. "Just because you can read my mind, doesn't mean you should," she said.

"I apologize. But since you've arrived in this region, your mind is where I reside."

"Right, right," Jessie said. Unlike in Unova, where Zekrom was a mass hallucination, here it was just her own personal crazy vision. She'd never told James or Meowth about it, and just hoped it would go away on its own eventually.

"See? You know it's right. You could request a change for your partner and take your chances. And chances are, the new one would be a better fit."

"Just shut up already," Jessie insisted. There was no point in arguing with it, since it lived in her mind and could pick out the thoughts to prove she was lying. Yeah, James reminded her of a lot of terrible things from her past. He and Cassidy with their bratty kid reminded her of her own parents, who had also been Team Rocket members. Her dad was also some loser that hardly visited her, and her mom was a successful Team Rocket member just like Cassidy. The difference was, maybe James visited his brat slightly more often, and Cassidy hadn't gone missing or died, at least not yet.

James also reminded her of her professional failures, as they'd gone through each and every one of those together. There was also her romantic failures, as they'd gone through that together too. Even with an attempt at a warm cozy scene like this morning, romance between them was and would continue to be a failure.

"Why don't you move on?" Zekrom said.

Jessie felt sick to her stomach just thinking of leaving and not being able to spend her days with James. That was why. She really did love him. "I'll stay with him forever. Got a problem with that?" Jessie glared at Zekrom. "It's none of your business, anyway. I'll leave you before him, Zekrom. In fact, I would have already if I could have."

"I can help you reach your ideals more than any other creature on this planet."

"Again with this. Just go away and leave me alone," Jessie snapped. She really wasn't feeling well, and did want to spend the day in bed. Alone, with no person or pokemon bothering her, preferably.

"Even if I can read your mind, I don't understand why you insist on ignoring me," Zekrom said.

Jessie sighed. Shouldn't that be obvious to anyone? "Because you aren't real!" Jessie shouted. "Do you even know that you're not real? If you were real, you could have appeared from that pokeball when I brought you to the boss in the first place."

"Hmph. It's true. Some of the requirements to exerting my current physical presence are only in Unova."

"And so, you're not-"

"I exist as much as any other creature on this planet! How about you, Jessie? Could you appear in the sky, the bottom of the ocean for me?"

"Of course not," Jessie muttered. She lay down now, hoping the flowers under her would turn into the covers of her bed.

"That's right. It's a limitation to your own existence. I have my own limitations, you understand. I can only appear in Unova at this time. That doesn't mean I'm not real."

Jessie opened her eyes, staring into the illusionary blue sky. What would this mean to her, if Zekrom really was 'real', but could only appear in Unova? Well, she'd never be able to fly the boss out to prove it. He wouldn't want to waste his time, especially not with agents like herself and James. In recent years, they'd been failures even assisting others.

But could they take over the Unova region themselves in the name of Team Rocket? Yes, that might get the boss to travel over there and recognize them. Well, there was also the whole secret of Entralink. If that was real too, it was tempting enough that the boss might want to come out and check it out, then he could see that Jessie really had captured Zekrom, a god tier legend from the region.

Jessie suddenly felt a chill. Tell the boss about Entralink? She couldn't. No way she could. Why was she even thinking this? The idea filled her with dread.

Jessie sat up, the pulled herself to her feet, glaring at Zekrom. "That feeling just now, that was from you, wasn't it?"

"Was it?"

"Well, cut it out," Jessie said. "I wasn't really going to tell the boss about your 'Entralink'. It was just a passing thought. I should be able to think about something without you interfering."

"Then I apologize. But it really is critical that it remains a secret, you understand."

"Yeah, whatever," Jessie said. "Could you just leave already?"

"Will you consider returning to Unova?"

"No, I won't consider going back to that fun house," Jessie said casually, as she had to Zekrom many times.

"You've been here in Kanto for two years now. How much longer do you intend to stagnate before you take action? I know you're the type to take action, Jessie."

Jessie sighed. They'd really not gotten much done since they'd left Unova. Not that they'd gotten much done in Unova outside what they'd decided what was their imagination, but she really didn't like sticking close to the base, and taking orders like some lower ranking grunt. Yeah, she was someone to go out and do something on her own to reach success. And if she were successful or not, leaving and going out there to try something else had to be more satisfying than what they'd been doing recently.

"Hey, Zekrom," Jessie began. "Do you think you could take over Unova if you really wanted to?"

"Unova is already mine, though Reshiram may stand in my way if I wished to exert that ownership in certain ways."

"And what's your's is mine," Jessie said with a smile. "Yeah, fine. I might as well go back to Unova and see how we can 'exert our ownership'. You sure you'll still exist there after so long in Kanto?"

"Absolutely," Zekrom said. "There's no way I couldn't."

"Fine then. I'll give it some serious thought," Jessie said. "As long as you get out of here, now."

With that promise, Zekrom did disappear, and Jessie was back in the dimly lit dorm. She sat down on the bed. Yeah, she was sick of Kanto. Even if Zekrom was just a fantasy of her's, there might be more to do in the fun house that was Unova. And Zekrom's backdrops, well, they were always more appealing than the backdrops of Team Rocket's base.

* * *

James looked over to the entrance of the Team Rocket base, seeing Jessie sitting outside. He was pleased to note the relaxed expression on her face. So she was out and about, and feeling better. He was worried that he'd made her angry this morning, but apparently that wasn't the case. He walked over to her now.

"Jessie," James called.

"Oh, James. There you are. I was hoping you'd get back soon," Jessie said.

"Oh," James said. "Any reason why?"

"I've been thinking a lot today," Jessie said. "We really aren't getting much done just staying here in Kanto and obeying someone else's orders, are we?"

"I guess not," James said sheepishly. It was a little more comfortable than traveling, but they really weren't doing much at all, were they? It could get kind of depressing.

"I want to change that," Jessie said. "And soon."

"Change it? How do you mean, Jessie?" James asked.

"Maybe I should wait until Meowth's here," Jessie said, thinking about it further.

"Right," James said. Wherever they'd go, Meowth should come too. He felt Jessie run her hand down his face, and shivered involuntarily. "Jessie?"

Jessie pulled her hand away. She'd wanted to be a little spontaneous, like James had been that morning. But maybe it was a bad idea. "Sorry," she said.

"No," James said, putting his hand on her's. "It's alright."

Jessie gave a slight sigh, then pulled away. "How was your kid?" she asked.

"He was fine," James said.

"Good. Let's go inside," Jessie said, then turned to the entrance.

* * *

"So, what was it you wanted to say, Jess?" Meowth asked as it piled the food on its tray.

"I want to go back to Unova," Jessie admitted. Her partners gaped at her. "You can't pretend you're happy here!" she said.

"Maybe not, but we wouldn't be happy there either! Everyone's a nutcase, including us, remember?" Meowth asked. "If we caught a legendary pokemon, it might be a fake again."

"Look, maybe coming back here right away wasn't the best choice," Jessie began. "We caught the legendary pokemon of Unova, so we should have just stayed and used it to take over Unova. The boss wouldn't have been unhappy with that, would he?"

"Maybe not. But how are we supposed to do that with a pokemon that doesn't even exist?" Meowth said.

"Zekrom said it definitely does exist," Jessie said. "It just can only exist in Unova."

"When did it say that?" Meowth asked, putting a paw to its head to try and remember. "I don't think it did. I might have thought twice about leaving if it had."

Meowth and James both turned to Jessie for an answer. She sighed in frustration. "Listen up, you two. I'm going to tell you something, and you'd better not laugh."

James nodded seriously. Meowth felt the corners of its mouth twitching upward just thinking about what Jessie might say. Jessie finally spoke. "I know Zekrom didn't appear when we got off the plane from Unova. At least not to everyone. But it keeps appearing all the time to me."

"All the time?" Meowth said. No, this was too weird to laugh at.

"What do you mean, Jessie?" James asked.

"Just what I said. It won't leave me alone. Every day it keeps bothering me, wanting me to go back to Unova. I kept telling it to go away. But now I think I want to go back, just to see what would happen, and maybe finally get Zekrom to shut up," Jessie said. She looked at James and Meowth, who stared back at her blankly. "Hey now, don't think I'm crazy! I've been acting sane and trying to ignore it this entire time, haven't I?"

"You've lost it," Meowth said. It expected Jessie to strike it, so it ducked.

"I believe you, Jessie," James said.

"Yeah, I do too, but-" Meowth began.

"There's no way the Reshiram I saw was fake," James said. "I think the Zekrom you caught was real too. It doesn't make sense that it wouldn't be! That it can only exist in Unova makes a lot more sense."

"It does, doesn't it," Jessie said, nodding.

"Hey, look, I'm not convinced. But I'm also not happy with how things are going here. If you guys want to go back, I'm with you," Meowth said.

"Alright, Meowth. I guess we're going," James said.

Jessie nodded. She already felt happier, and more confident, knowing she could count on her companions even to this extent.

"Just one more thing," Meowth said. "Don't keep any more secrets about what Zekrom says... Except about that one thing. Let us know if it says anything else to you."

"Right," Jessie agreed. "Zekrom really can't shut up, it's said a lot to me. It's even said that it's already the ruler of Unova. And it said one more thing just before now to try and make sure I'd go back to Unova."

"What's that?" James asked.

"I don't even know if it was true or not," Jessie said.

"Just tell us!" Meowth insisted.

"Yeah, it could have been just trying to bribe me. But Zekrom said it thinks there's a way it can be 'real' everywhere."

James and Meowth exchanged glances, then looked back over at Jessie. "Yeah... That does sound a little too convenient," Meowth said. Though it said that, Meowth felt the same hope as its partners. It was time to go back.


	3. Reshiram's Face

**3**  
**Reshiram's Face**

Iris hated visiting him, so she avoided it whenever possible. Whenever she did, it was unpleasant. He often smelled like alcohol, even if he hadn't been drinking. Then, if he was somewhat drunk or not, he'd spend the time rambling to her and Drayden about various topics. Iris could hardly get a word in. Even Drayden, who was usually quieter than her, was able to speak more.

Because this guy wouldn't interrupt Drayden, but would interrupt Iris all the time. Get over yourself, Iris wanted to shout at him. You aren't the champion anymore, and even when you were, you weren't a very good one, were you? Of course, saying all that would be rude. It might also present herself as a haughty, egotistical champion. Iris wasn't. She was just never Alder's biggest fan at all. It wasn't that she made a better champion than him, it was just that most people would make a better champion than him.

Oh, but she couldn't say that. Iris could only sit still and nod at what he said, and laugh politely at his jokes, as if he were actually interesting and funny the way he certainly thought of himself as. Behind Iris's facade as she went to his hometown with Drayden for a friendly visit, she really disliked this person.

"Who was Reshiram's chosen hero again? Some professor's assistant?" Alder asked as he poured Iris and Drayden some tea.

"That-" Iris began.

"A little girl, that's what I've heard. She must be cute!" Alder interrupted.

"Yes, it is a young woman. Iris and I know her well," Drayden said.

"You'll have to introduce me. I'd really like to meet someone like that."

"Hey-" Iris began.

"I really am-"

"Hey there," Iris began, standing up now. She wasn't just going to let _this_ one go. "Don't you think that's just a little disgusting?"

"What are you talking about, Iris?" Alder said.

"Wanting us to introduce you to some cute girl like B- Like Reshiram's hero."

Alder only laughed at that. "Oh, Iris, you took that the wrong way. I just meant I wanted to meet Reshiram's chosen hero, not a cute girl. Though if she found me charming, well then who knows what might happen."

Iris's face twisted in a combined expression of feigned amusement and disgust as Alder winked, then laughed at himself. She didn't care if he was just joking around, it wasn't something she wanted to think about at all.

"Alder," Drayden began. "She doesn't wish to make herself a celebrity. So I don't think it would be appropriate to go out of the way to introduce her to you."

"So, why did Reshiram need to choose a modern hero in the first place?" Alder asked, suddenly serious. "Since she's chosen, she'd be a celebrity anyway, if she were to be the protector of Unova. Yet for the past few years, neither her nor Reshiram have done anything really."

"That's true," Drayden said. "I really don't have an answer. I can only guess, the same as you."

"Hm," Alder said. He was finally silent for several beautiful moments, Iris noticed. They were able to sip the tea, which was actually pretty well made, and take in the sounds of the breeze and wildlife seeping in from outside. Alder's home was actually pretty peaceful, Iris noticed.

But then Alder spoke again. "Maybe Reshiram has no other point than to just be back. And it chose some random girl as a figurehead, a sort of princess of truth."

"That's one guess we can make," Drayden said.

"In that case, she'd have a lot in common with you, right Iris?" Alder jokes again.

Iris scowled, unable to hide her disgust this time. He should battle her again if he thought she was just some figurehead to appeal to the masses, as he often implied. If he were to liken her position as champion to royalty, it would be queen, not princess. Because Iris reigned as champion, didn't just passively accept some title that had been handed to her. In fact, hadn't accepting a title been how Alder himself had become champion? Iris tried to think of a good way to bring up that point without seeming haughty, but there really was none. Alder was the only one who got to be haughty.

So she just sat there while Alder continued to ramble, Drayden on occasion offering a comment just to acknowledge that he was listening. Iris's mind started to wander. Bianca really could resemble a fantasy princess. If Iris were a princess too, they might marry each other before they became queens of Unova, with Iris as the champion queen, and Bianca as the queen of truth. How fun would that be, both being royalty that everyone acknowledged as a beautiful couple.

Alder's annoying laughter at his own joke brought Iris back to reality. Yeah, there was no way that would happen, as she and Bianca would have to be an actual couple first. Bianca probably wasn't even interested anymore. Iris took a sip of her tea, which didn't seem as good anymore, waiting for Alder to finally stop talking and their visit to finally end.

When it was time to go, Iris jumped to her feet, not caring if she seemed a little too eager to leave. "Been nice visiting, old man," she lied in a salutation.

"Yes, always good to see you, princess," Alder said.

"Don't call me that," Iris ordered seriously, but Alder only laughed at her request. Finally, they were walking away. "That guy pisses me off," she commented to Drayden once they were far enough away.

"I wish the two of you weren't so antagonistic with each other," Drayden said. "The new champion and old champion could benefit from collaborating with each other."

"Right," Iris said with a sigh. She might agree, if the former champion was anyone but Alder. "Promise me you won't ever introduce him to Bianca though, okay?"

"I hadn't planned on it, but if they were in the same place at the same time, it would be rude not to," Drayden said.

"So be rude, he always is," Iris muttered.

"He may or may not guess that Bianca was Reshiram's chosen hero," Drayden said.

"Oh, so you wouldn't say so," Iris said, nodding in approval.

"I have said so to others before, as has the people that Bianca now works with. Turning her into a celebrity isn't desirable, but I think anyone who briefly met her would feel calmed."

"How so?" Iris asked.

"With her as Reshiram's representative, well, most would feel calmed about the situation," Drayden said.

"Oh, right, because Bianca's a girl and doesn't look threatening. You used to use me like that too, huh? I'd be your representative, so people wouldn't think you were there, intimidating them. Even if you kind of wanted to be."

"Intimidation and threats often aren't the best approach," Drayden said.

"Yeah, I get that," Iris said with a shrug. "But if they got to know me, they'd know I could kick their ass in a pokemon battle," Iris said with some amusement.

"Not that you would resort to that."

"Yeah, but that's not the point," Iris said. "It's the same as with Bianca. Maybe she's a completely sweet, wonderful girl, but, yeah, she and Reshiram both aren't going to lie down and let you walk all over them. They'll beat up anyone in Unova that messes with them, huh?"

"And that's exactly the kind of sentiment we don't want circulating," Drayden said.

Iris shrugged. Yeah, her previous statement went along with the whole intimidation thing. But it was true. Now that she was traveling along with Reshiram, Bianca didn't have to worry about anything anymore.

* * *

Bianca climbed up the ledge to get a better view of the landscape. Flying pokemon resided here, and she wanted to get a better look at things from their perspective. Still, as she looked out above the trees from her new point of view, she didn't feel it was terribly different. She was still on the ground, just at a higher elevation. Bianca wished she could just fly up and higher and higher away.

Reshiram could probably take her. Still, Bianca felt awkward just asking the serious pokemon for a frivolous things like that. She thought of sending it out of its pokeball, and asking it to take her sight seeing, and what she might say next if Reshiram just stared back at her blankly.

So no, she wouldn't ask Reshiram for anything. Maybe she should catch a flying type of her own. She'd then have a difficult time deciding which two pokemon to leave at home now. More than six really was difficult to care for while traveling, and doing so without a special permit wasn't allowed for any individual trainer. Bianca recalled that she'd caught her seventh pokemon thinking it would be her sixth. It was easy to forget that Reshiram was her's.

Not everyone assumed it was, but whenever someone figured out who she was and said something like it was amazing that she'd caught such a legendary pokemon, Bianca definitely felt awkward about it. Reshiram hadn't been one that she'd battled and then caught like most of the others. It seemed more like Reshiram had decided that Bianca would come along with it rather than the other way around.

"Hey!" a young trainer shouted from down lower. Bianca looked down and waved pleasantly, though she felt a little annoyed to have her observations interrupted. Rather than move on, the boy climbed up with her. "Hey, lady, did you hear me? Are you a pokemon trainer? You have pokemon, right?"

"Right," Bianca confirmed. "I'm a little busy right now though."

"Come on, take a break! Let's battle some."

"No thanks! I really don't have time," Bianca said.

"Scared? You have a bunch of weak, unevolved pokemon, don't you?" he taunted.

Bianca smiled. "Most of my pokemon are evolved," she said.

"Most? Not all?"

"Well, all the ones that can evolve are," Bianca said.

"Can't all pokemon evolve?"

"No. There are a lot of ones that don't," Bianca said.

"Like?"

Bianca explained several species, including bouffalant and lapras, both now well known for being pokemon of the former and current champions.

"Are they really that powerful if they don't evolve?" the trainer asked.

"Well, Professor Juniper has said she thinks it's interesting... Some of the most powerful pokemon out there aren't known to evolve. Like Zekrom... Or Reshiram."

"Professor Juniper?" the trainer said, pausing thoughtfully. "Oh! Are you her assistant?"

"Well, yes," Bianca said, knowing where this might be going.

"Are you that assistant that caught Reshiram? Is that your pokemon that can't evolve?"

"Oh, well, I did-" Bianca began.

"It has to be you!" the trainer decided on the answer before Bianca could even speak it. "Really? Someone like you? You look really weak! You won't even battle! I guess Reshiram doesn't care about strength."

"I really do need to get back to work," Bianca said. It took a while of convincing before the traveling trainer finally left her alone.

His sentiments weren't unique. Many had decided upon meeting Bianca, and knowing that she was Reshiram's chosen hero, that Reshiram must not have chosen her for strength. Maybe that was true, though Reshiram praised the strength of her heart. It said more than once that it had searched a long time for a hero that was worthy, and Bianca was.

Though for what? That had been everyone's first question. Both the professors and officials wanted to know what Reshiram wanted. Bianca couldn't really answer that. She also wanted to know. When she'd gotten around to asking Reshiram directly, it had told her it was waiting to see what its course of action should be.

Bianca couldn't force it to answer further, and really didn't want to push for more specifics. Unlike her, Reshiram was pretty scary, so she hesitated to speak to it at all, even during the brief times it came outside of its pokeball.

Yes, she was just a professor's assistant, maybe with the idea to do her own research some day. Helping Professor Juniper with her's was just one way Bianca could figure out what she wanted to study.

Bianca hurried to finish her work. The sun was getting much lower in the sky, she noticed. Maybe it was time to go. Bianca took off her glasses to finish up her notes, then put them back on as she packed up. Her glasses were new, but she'd probably needed them for a while for distance vision. She noticed so much more detail even just the first time she'd put them on. However, she was still getting used to them.

Climbing down, Bianca tried to be careful, since the drop was so far. She squinted, looking for the next step. As she put her foot there, she seemed to do it to quickly. She took a tumble, rolling over several times, heading for the nearby ledge.

With that, one of her pokeballs started to glow. Reshiram had let itself out. Bianca had stopped herself before tumbling over, but trembled a little as she realized just how close she'd been to the edge. "Are you alright?" Reshiram asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Bianca said, smiling at it to reassure. She stood up, dusting herself off. She laughed a little nervously at how disheveled she must look in front of the legendary pokemon.

"It'll be dark soon," Reshiram said.

"Yeah. I'll just camp before I head back to town tomorrow."

"I could take you back now, if it would be convenient," Reshiram said.

"Would you really?" Bianca said, unable to hide her enthusiasm. It wasn't that she was all that eager to get back, but she had really, really wanted to go for a ride with Reshiram for a while. That was what really appealed to her about the offer.

"Yes. Shall we, then?"

Bianca nodded happily. She got on Reshiram's back, and gasped as they headed into the sky. The air was fresh, and pleasantly cool that day. Bianca adjusted her glasses as she looked around at the landscape. "Can we go higher?" Bianca asked.

"Yes," Reshiram said. As they went up. Bianca gasped at the sight. So this was what the flying type pokemon noticed before they traveled back to the ground. It was magnificent. They went kind of quickly, so Bianca couldn't really appreciate everything, but did notice the shape of Entralink before they headed away from it, and nearby to the small town where Bianca was meeting the professor the next day. "Thank you, Reshiram," Bianca said. Reshiram nodded at her. "Unova is really beautiful from up there."

"Hmph," Reshiram said, turning away. Though she was right nearby the fire type pokemon, Bianca felt cold at the reaction. Reshiram realized it and turned back to her. "It is a pretty vision. But it's all a lie."

"What is?" Bianca asked. It was the first time Reshiram had shared a thought like this with her. Though it could communicate using human language, their rare conversations had been short and banal.

"Unova," Reshiram said. "Though I accept Unova as what it's become, I can't forget that it's all a lie."

"I still don't understand," Bianca said, furrowing her brow. How could a region be a lie?

"It's alright. You don't need to," Reshiram said.

"Well, could you try and explain?" Bianca requested. It was too confusing to just leave like this, wasn't it?

"You'd have to know the true history of Unova to fully understand. I know it by living it. I was there personally when Unova was warped into what it is now. It's a repulsive memory."

"Oh," Bianca said. It was upsetting Reshiram to talk about this, so maybe she shouldn't push it for more detail. There was one thing she needed to address though. "Reshiram... By returning, I mean, after all these years... Did you want to try and 'fix' Unova?"

"No, that's impossible by now," Reshiram said, and Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. It might be troublesome if the pokemon decided to do something like that. "But you should be prepared for conflict."

Bianca frowned now, and Reshiram continued. "Don't worry too much about my intentions, Bianca," it said. "My only intention is to protect this region from further harm. I don't wish to engage in unnecessary fighting, though I will do what I must."

Bianca smiled now, and nodded. "I think I understand a little better now, Reshiram. You're not out to start a fight... But you know you might have to get in one."

Reshiram nodded. Bianca took a deep breath. Just because Reshiram saw the possibility didn't mean it would come to fruition. But Bianca wasn't too upset to know the possibility anyway. If trouble were to arise, she'd face it with Reshiram, her head held high. That was what Reshiram had asked her for, wasn't it?

Reshiram and Bianca exchanged glances, both appearing confident and calm to the other. Bianca watched Reshiram as it turned to the setting sun, saying nothing else. It was done with the conversation. Bianca returned it to its pokeball and headed into town.


	4. Battle's Beginning

**4**  
**Battle's Beginning**

Ash and his pikachu cheered, jumping up into the air as the battle concluded. Gary sighed. "Nice try, Umbreon," he said, returning the pokemon to its pokeball. Then he turned away, walking slowly to the stone step where he sat down, feeling the breeze from the outside window, where a druddigon flew by.

"Sorry," Ash said, looking sheepish as he walked over to Gary, then sat down next to him. "Maybe I got a little too excited, huh?"

Gary smirked at his friend. Yeah, he had. But Ash was just like that, and had always been. Gary was mostly used to it by now. "You have gotten a little better than me, but don't let it get to your head or anything, Ashy-boy. We wouldn't want you exploding with overconfidence or anything."

"Hey, I'm not like that!" Ash insisted.

Gary's amusement continued at seeing Ash's annoyance. Annoying Ash wasn't anything he went out of his way to do, though it had always been way too easy. "Thanks for stopping by to keep me company anyway, Ash."

"Yeah, no problem. So, what else us there to do here, anyway?" Ash asked.

"Absolutely nothing," Gary said, shrugging as he did. "There's nothing left here at all really. Reshiram's gone, so there's no point to being in this dusty old tower."

"It's a fun place for a battle though," Ash said.

"For sure," Gary agreed. "Are you gonna compete in the league this year?"

"Yeah," Ash confirmed. "I have enough badges now, so why not?"

"I might come watch then," Gary said. "Maybe you've improved beyond just beating me, who knows."

"I've really gotten good," Ash insisted. "And you aren't bad, Gary."

"Maybe not," Gary said. "Well, I'd better get going with the rest of my work around this useless place. There's nothing at all left to study here."

"Do you need any help?" Ash asked.

"Not really. But it might be nice," Gary said.

"Yeah, I'll help," Ash said. He ran forward, hopping over rubble beneath, and heading to the stairs. Then he almost ran into a person. "Oh... Hey," Ash said as he stopped himself. There was a long-haired man standing there. The guy looked really familiar, Ash thought, but couldn't quite place him.

"Excuse me," the unknown man said.

"Right, sorry, excuse me," Ash said.

"Pika," Pikachu added.

The stranger that had shown nearly no reaction to Ash before now looked down at Pikachu with a half smile. Gary caught up to Ash by now, and looked at the stranger with a questioning expression. "Hey, I don't think we've met before, but was I supposed to meet you here?"

"No," the stranger replied.

"Do you mind if I ask what brought you to this boring place?" Gary asked, slightly concerned that his research materials might have been disturbed. "We don't really see a lot of people here."

"I suppose not," the man said. "Do you really think it's boring?"

Gary shrugged. "Na, the architecture and pokemon that show up are kind of interesting. I don't think it's that bad, being assigned here," he admitted.

"Yes," the stranger said, nodding. "It's of a certain historic significance to Unova. Reshiram's absence doesn't erase that."

"Oh? So you know that Reshiram was found here?" Gary said, raising an eyebrow.

"Oh!" Ash shouted out suddenly.

"Hm? What is it, Ash?" Gary asked, distracted as he looked back toward his friend.

"Oh, well, I just remembered where I recognized him from," Ash said, putting a hand to the back of his head and looking away.

"Oh really? Well, don't hesitate to introduce us, then," Gary said.

"Introduce? I can't do that," Ash said.

Gary became frustrated at Ash's ineptitude, as well as the suspicious stranger's lack of interest. The stranger was already starting to wander, up the large staircase this time. "Come on Ash," Gary muttered. "Should I be worried about this guy?"

"No," Ash said. "He just kind of, well, he stopped me from making a mistake. When I wanted to battle Team Rocket to get Zekrom back. I don't know who he is."

So, Gary realized, this newcomer was still a mysterious stranger, but seemed to be innocent enough, just exploring the tower and having helped Ash out a while ago. Gary decided to ignore him for the moment, and he and Ash began gathering up the supplies scattered around.

Eventually, they had to go up to the top of the tower. It was quite the climb, even though Gary had the familiarity needed to arrive there quickly. When they got to the top, Gary frowned at seeing the stranger again. "Hey, you looking for something up here?" Gary shouted the question at him.

From a distance, the stranger shook his head no, then went back to paying Gary no mind.

It was annoying, but Gary knew that pretty much anyone was allowed here, at their own risk, of course. So he continued to ignore the stranger, and with Ash's help, finished cleaning everything up.

It was only when they'd gotten the last censor down and were ready to head down the stairs that the stranger approached them again. "You're researchers, aren't you?" he asked.

"Gary is, I'm not," Ash said.

"Well, I'm just getting into the field," Gary said. "I'm Gary Oak. And you?"

"N," the man said curtly. The fake-sounding name didn't do anything to curb Gary's unease. "Gary, is it? Can you tell me what you've discovered here. Or rather, what you wish to discover?"

"That's a good question," Gary said. "The golurk around here are pretty interesting, aren't they?"

"Yes," N said plainly, in definite agreement.

"Yeah, well, you know that's not why we're really here, don't you?" Gary said, deciding to be direct. He recalled when Ash had told him about his near incident at the airport. A stranger had consoled him after stopping him, one that knew right away that Zekrom was with Team Rocket. This had to be that same stranger, now speaking of 'Reshiram's absence' from the tower. This guy had to know an awful lot, probably more than either him or Ash, Gary concluded.

"All of the pokemon in this area are worth your consideration, though it would be best just to leave them be," N said.

"We do, for the most part," Gary said. "So, are you a researcher too? A pokemon trainer? What brings you here?"

"I'm neither at the moment. I just had some nostalgic feelings, and ended up here. Depending on what you want to discover, I might help you."

Gary took a moment to think. "The mountain we want to climb is too big to describe, I guess," Gary began.

"Gary, we're in a tower," Ash pointed out.

Gary ignored him. "Yeah, by staying here a couple years, I guess we hope to discover something, you know? About Reshiram. Just what, well, if we had some clues, we might be able to say what we wanted to know."

"You're a researcher and haven't yet discovered the truth? You're both from far away, aren't you?"

"Yeah, Gary's from Kanto like me," Ash said.

"Well then, just speak to the people of Unova, and you'll know what's essential. Reshiram created Unova, along with Zekrom. After knowing that, can you tell me what else there is to discover?"

Gary raised an eyebrow, annoyed. "Come on, 'N', there's a lot more to know than that. Researchers native to Unova are curious, is this really Reshiram that returned? And if those Team Rocket characters really caught some powerful pokemon, is it really Zekrom? Are they the pokemon of legend, and have they been around for thousands of years or something? If it really is them, why did they come back, and how? Were they hiding, and if so, why did they stop? There's a lot left to know, you know."

"Oh?" N said, smirking in amusement. "So, you know the truth, and you just want proof. Can the truth be the truth without proof?"

"Sure. We can't know what's the truth without it, though," Gary said.

N nodded. "Reshiram would absolutely appreciate someone like you. Too bad it's already chosen a hero. Or, you could said it's fortunate for you, depending on your point of view."

"You really know a lot about everything. How's that?" Gary challenged him to speak more.

"Come over here. I think I can show you," N said. Gary, Ash, and Pikachu following him curiously across the stone floor. When they got to a stone structure in the center, N knocked on it. It began to lift up from the ground.

"Ah!" Ash said.

"Pika?" Pikachu said.

Gary, though startled, got hold of himself, then looked to the center and stared. A sparkling round feature had appeared in the rock. "What's this?"

"It might be what you're looking for, though I'm not sure myself. This is the definite proof of Reshiram's existence, the light stone."

"How?" Gary asked.

"Pikachu," Pikachu commented.

"It's the stone from the legend. After much battling, Reshiram and Zekrom's essences were encased in stone. For Reshiram, it was this very light stone."

"Hm," Ash said, looking down to study it. "It was kind of like a big pokeball?"

"Maybe a little like that," N said. "But not exactly."

"And how did you know about this?" Gary asked.

"A few years ago, I was part of Team Plasma," N said. "In fact, I was the one they called 'king'." N looked and noted Ash's confused face and Gary's blank reaction. "Oh? You two really don't know about us?"

"No," Ash admitted right away.

"It's too bad. Even if you're foreigners, I hate to see that our legacy, and more importantly, our message has died so quickly," N said sadly. "We were working for pokemon's liberation."

"What does that mean?" Ash asked.

"From the pokeballs that both of you have... No, from all human influence. Yes, Pokemon should be liberated from humans all together."

"Oh, so you're one of those," Gary said with a smirk. "Yeah, I think I have heard about your little cult."

With that, N glared at Gary. Gary realized he'd made a mistake. Even if this guy was a remnant of a weird cult, he might have something useful to say. Gary tried to think of a way to repair the conversation.

Ash was oblivious to all of this, poking at the light stone along with Pikachu. It did nothing strange, other than glitter. "Hey, so you 'liberated' Reshiram from this too?" Ash asked.

"No," N said, turning back to Ash. "As I said, these stones aren't exactly like pokeballs. They're more natural. Reshiram and Zekrom were contained there as a result of their own fight. That doesn't mean they couldn't be released, though. It was part of my father's plan. Even as king, I was still a human. With Zekrom and Reshiram by my side, then I'd be able to better convince others of my truth, and convince them to follow Team Plasma's ideals."

"Or just force them to," Gary said.

"No," N said calmly, closing his eyes. He recalled seeing Zekrom for the first time. The pokemon's presence seemed to drop the temperature. Not to a chill, but a pleasant coolness, such as after the rain of summer. N had been thrilled to see the pokemon of legend for the first time, he recalled. Then he'd been prodded to approach it. "Our intent in seeking out both legendary creators was only to allow pokemon to help liberate themselves. It might have worked, but Zekrom and Reshiram had both been tainted by humans so long ago already. They weren't suitable."

"So, they wouldn't cooperate? They wouldn't accept you like they accepted those other two?" Gary said.

"When we went and summoned Zekrom in Entralink, it did accept me," N said. N recalled the elating feeling of being recognized as one who truly embraced and fought for his ideals. That combined with the hope of what he might accomplish with Zekrom's help was overwhelming. "It was ready to make me its hero," N said. "I had to refuse."

Gary raised an eyebrow. It was a little much to believe, but a lot of fantastic things had happened since he'd come to Unova. "So, you think your cul- your 'team' is responsible for Reshiram and Zekrom's return?" he asked N.

"Of course. Those pokemon had some presence beforehand, but not until after we summoned them have they been able to exert it to this extent," N said.

"Um... N," Ash began. "Why would you refuse? I mean, to be Zekrom's hero?"

N smirked. "There's been so much talk about Reshiram and Zekrom over the years. Not just recent times, but since they'd first made an influence here. People have retold the stories over and over again, losing facts each time. And then things have been purposefully obscured as the stories have been retold in ways humans would like them to have occurred. If everyone knew the truth, you'd know why I refused. Well, if everyone knew the truth, then we'd never have summoned either pokemon in the first place."

Ash's expression twisted as he became confused. "I don't get it," he said.

"Yeah, you aren't really answering his question. What is the truth, anyway?" Gary asked.

"The truth is that Zekrom would crush everyone, pokemon and human alike, to achieve its ends. I couldn't support that," N said.

Ash clenched his jaw and frowned now. "I thought Zekrom was being tricked... But it's just a bad guy going along with the other bad guys, huh?"

"So you went to Zekrom first?" Gary asked, trying to put the pieces of the story together in his mind. As N nodded, he considered what would be next. "And then you came up here and Reshiram was the one to refuse you, huh?"

"No," N said. "Reshiram was also ready to accept me as its hero."

"What happened then? Didn't you want to help Reshiram defeat Zekrom?" Ash asked.

N now recalled meeting Reshiram for the first time. It was right in the very spot he stood, and had been standing for much of the afternoon, considering if he had really made the right decision back then. Upon summoning, Reshiram initially had emanated a pleasant warmth, but it just became stuffy after a while. Eventually, it was so hot no human could stand it. "I thought similarly to you back then," N admitted to Ash. Then he frowned. "If Zekrom is the villain, then Reshiram must be the hero, correct? I concluded it was impossible that Reshiram too was tainted by human lies and perceptions. I was wrong to think that."

N stepped forward, touching the light stone. It felt the same as the rest of the room by now, though it had been hot when Reshiram had first been summoned. "Reshiram... Reshiram was the same. The legend separated them into different pokemon, but now that I've met them, I can't see any difference between the two. Their fight has only harmed the pokemon of Unova from the start."

N took his hand off the light stone, trembling. There was one difference that he wasn't willing to share with the two of them. Reshiram may have been worse in a way. Zekrom had only growled and insulted N upon N's refusal, tried to goad him into accepting.

Reshiram just hadn't taken no for an answer. Together, Reshiram and his father had tried to force N into becoming the new hero of truth, all while N repeated, "I refuse" over and over again to neither of their mind. His own will had won out in the end. Though even as Reshiram finally backed down, his father continued to beat and berate him.

N looked over at Ash and Gary, who both looked away awkwardly, perhaps worrying about what N had said. "Nothing could have prevented this," N continued. "If not Team Plasma, someone else would have summoned them eventually. And if not the two heroes it chose, then some other humans would have accepted. I couldn't really stop them."

"So, what do you think will happen now?" Gary asked.

"More of what happened all those years ago," N said. He pushed on the stone structure in the center, and the light stone again disappeared. "I mean, it's a very real possibility. Zekrom must be dormant in your home region now," N said, nodding at Ash. "Maybe it will stay that way, and Reshiram will have no one to fight."

"Oh," Ash said. He now realized why N had been so unconcerned all those years ago when Team Rocket had left.

"Maybe you ought to head somewhere else then, Ash," Gary said, smirking to himself.

"Huh? Why?" Ash said. He scowled, Gary hadn't taunted him in a while.

"Hey, wherever you are, those two tend to show up," Gary said with a shrug.

"I'm not bringing them anywhere!" Ash said.

"Relax Ash, it was just a joke. I'm not blaming you or anything," Gary said. He stopped teasing Ash, then turned to N. "Thanks for letting us know all this. I know you didn't have to."

"Your goal is not only to acquire, but disperse information, correct? I hope all of this being better known will help the pokemon of Unova somehow."

Gary nodded. He need to disperse the information, huh? Gary really did believe N, at least for the most part. How he was going to disperse the ramblings of a former, well, possibly current cult leader, or if anyone other than himself would believe this story, Gary didn't know. He started beginning to summarize the information in his mind, ready to give it his best.

* * *

Jessie got off the plane, James and Meowth by her side. She took off her sunglasses, and looked at the now somewhat nostalgic surroundings. It had been in this exact spot over two years ago that Zekrom had recognized her from the sky, hadn't it? Even if she hadn't known at the time, it had been destiny that Zekrom would choose her over anyone else.

Just like it was destiny that Team Rocket would rule the entire world. They didn't exactly rule any part of the world overtly yet, but Unova would be the first, and they'd be the ones to take it over in Team Rocket's name. That was, if Zekrom really did still exist in Unova like it had promised her in her delusions.

"Are you going to try it?" Meowth asked. James looked at Jessie eagerly as well, waiting for the moment of 'truth', so to speak.

Zekrom definitely did exist. There was really no reason to doubt it. Jessie looked from side to side. There were some people, but not too many, walking down the dock after having arrived. Maybe they should wander over to a more private area, just in case Zekrom really were to appear.

But as soon as Jessie released it, Zekrom definitely would be there. And there was no reason to hide it. Jessie walked down the dock just a little, only to savor the moment before she'd see the symbol of her success again. Then she threw the pokeball in the air. Just as anticipated, Zekrom appeared in the air.

Lightning struck nearby as it did. Zekrom moved freely, and looked solid, not at all like an apparition. The legendary pokemon of ideals turned to Jessie, nodding. "At last, we've returned," it said.

"Right. Let's get to work, Zekrom. What do you think is the best way to let Unova know it belongs to Team Rocket now?" Jessie asked.

"I could declare that right now... Well Jessie, you already know, there's just one thing that stands in my way, only one being who could argue with me," Zekrom said.

Jessie stared seriously ahead at Zekrom, then nodded. Yeah, before she could do what she wanted, she'd have to do something about the pokemon that dared to 'balance' itself against Jessie's legendary pokemon's power.


	5. Return

**5**  
**Return**

Bianca pushed open the creaking, oversized door to the Opelucid gym. "Hello?" she called. Her voice echoed though the area. Afterward there was only silence. Taking a step forward, Bianca looked up at the large, intimidating dragon statues and the various platforms.

This place was really different than when Iris had been the leader. Of course, the now champion only kept a design that Drayden had put in place, and this new design was also Drayden's. Bianca took a moment to picture herself at the top of that tall platform, ready to challenge the gym leader.

She laughed. How could anyone concentrate on a battle, just trying to avoid falling off the edges up there? The platforms before had been a challenge, but the fall was never so steep. Bianca supposed she might have really have made a mess of herself up there if she were still trying to collect badges.

"Excuse me! The gym is closed today. I can schedule a challenge for later."

Bianca turned around. So, Drayden himself was standing there. "It's alright Drayden, I was just in town and thought I'd see if Iris was around."

"No, she's not," Drayden said. "She's not had much time to visit in Opelucid since becoming champion."

"I guess she wouldn't," Bianca said with a shrug. Finding out that Iris wasn't around, Bianca realized just how much she'd been looking forward to seeing the former gym leader. Iris was often busy as champion, but then again, so was Bianca with her job. "Oh well. I'll have to try and catch her next time. Thanks, Drayden." Bianca gave a quick bow to Drayden, then headed toward the door.

"Wait," Drayden said. Bianca turned around and he continued. "Since you went out of your way to visit, would you like to challenge the gym?"

"Oh, well, I don't really do that anymore," Bianca said.

"I'm sure you still have the credentials. Wouldn't you like to see how well your training has progressed?"

"Didn't you need to close the gym?" Bianca asked.

"I'll make an exception for you. Since we both have other places we need to be, it could be a quick battle of one against one. However, I'll still give you the legend badge if you win. It would be appropriate, don't you agree?"

"Yeah," Bianca said, a subtle smile coming to her face. Maybe it might be fun to just battle in a gym without being worried about the result so much, even though she didn't think she had a good chance of winning. Drayden was considered a higher level gym leader, and she'd struggled against ones considered low level ones in the past. But just battling for curiosity, and to see how much she had improved, that might be fun. "Alright. I'll battle."

Drayden nodded. He started walked toward the moving platforms, and Bianca realized he expected her to follow. Oh, she thought to herself. Feeling more nervous than before, she did. They went up one platform, then another one... Had it really been this far to the top, Bianca considered. Eventually they reached the very top. The platform was large enough for pokemon to battle without worrying about falling off, or so Bianca hoped.

Well, this could also be a sign of her personal growth. How she stood there and battled despite her own unease was a sign of strength, right?

"As I said before, in this battle we'll both only choose one pokemon," Drayden began to explain. "When our one chosen pokemon becomes unable to battle, that concludes the challenge."

Bianca nodded, and reached for the pokemon she'd certainly have to use.

"Go, Haxorus!" Drayden shouted, sending out his signature pokemon.

"Go, Emboar!" Bianca sent out her own chosen pokemon. As she did, she noticed that Drayden frowned. Had she done something wrong? Oh, of course, Bianca realized. As Cheren had rambled about before he himself challenged Iris at this gym, dragon type pokemon could resist a lot of different kinds of attacks, and fire type was one of them.

But if she were going to test how she'd grown, there was no better way than with her very first pokemon. Bianca also considered the new layout of the gym. Part of the reason for moving the final gym challenge all the way up here had to be the way it trapped the hot air that dragon type pokemon flourished in. Well, her fire type Emboar would also have an advantage with this design, wouldn't it? Maybe not enough of one, but Bianca was still going to give it her best.

"Haxorus, dragon dance!" Drayden shouted, and his pokemon began the move.

Bianca wasn't fazed at all by Drayden's lack of hesitation, and gave her own order directly afterward. "Emboar, wild charge!"

Emboar hit Haxorus just as it finished the dragon dance. Bianca pushed up her glasses, carefully observing the area. Both attacks would speed up the pokemon, so Bianca knew she had to be on alert for her next move, which she'd already decided on. "Emboar, return attack!"

"Dragon tail!" Drayden ordered.

Though Bianca had given the command first, Haxorus was quicker, and hit Emboar with the dragon tail attack. Bianca winced. That was enough to send it flying, and she'd normally have to return it and quickly send out the next pokemon. Emboar flew back, and dug its claws into the bottom of the platform. Bianca's shoulders tensed up as she watched it. Drayden made sure this place was solid, right?

Sure enough, the platform held, and so did Emboar. It then took off running, and hit Haxorus with the powerful return attack. Bianca clenched her fist as she saw that the dragon type pokemon really was affected by it, turning its head a moment before turning back to the battle with a roar. Dragon types could resist fire type attacks, but this kind of attack worked well, hadn't it?

"Slash attack!"

"Wild charge!" Bianca ordered. Haxorus was really quick, but maybe Emboar could catch up if it tried something like this, she thought. Emboar again took Haxorus's attack, before hitting it with the electric type attack again. Good, Bianca thought. Now maybe Emboar could attack first next time. "Again, try your return attack!"

"Once more with slash," Drayden said.

Bianca saw Emboar take the attack a second time, and could see it was breathing heavily before getting up to try and follow Bianca's command. "Wait!" Bianca called before it moved. "That's enough, Emboar. I think that move should end the battle."

Drayden nodded. "Haxorus, stand down."

The aggression completely disappeared from Drayden's well trained pokemon as it stood up straighter and faced him. Emboar also looked toward Bianca for what would be next. "You gave it your best, Emboar. And you really did well! Let's rest for now."

"Wait," Drayden said as Bianca held up her pokeball. "I'll take care of any injuries right here."

"Oh, thanks," Bianca said.

Drayden took out a potion and then circled around Emboar, spraying it purposefully. "You really might have pushed it harder, just to see what the result might be."

Bianca cringed as she heard the criticism. Then she smiled. "Maybe I could have gotten farther," she admitted. "But I just thought that was enough for today. I guess I'm not as good as other trainers you've faced, but just thinking of how this battle went myself, I can see I've gotten better."

"You're more than adequate as a trainer," Drayden said. "I'd say your pokemon are above average in that they're healthy and carefully cared for."

Bianca now beamed at the praise. "Thank you," she said.

"Emboar, is it? Is this your first pokemon?"

"Yes," Bianca confirmed.

"I can understand why you chose it now. I have to admit I'd hoped you'd use Reshiram."

"Ah-" Bianca began, her face turning red. "Oh, ah, well, I can't just use Reshiram anytime I want... Actually, I really can't use Reshiram to battle at all. I'm sorry if that's why you really wanted to battle..."

"It's fine," Drayden said. "I'm sure you used your best judgment. But are you sure Reshiram wouldn't like to battle?"

"I am," Bianca said. "Reshiram is a pacifist. It doesn't like to fight."

"Even considering the wars it's supposedly waged?"

"Well, it only fights when it has to," Bianca explained. "I agree that's best."

"Perhaps," Drayden said. "Should I tell Iris you came by to see her?"

"Maybe," Bianca said, then realized she probably shouldn't give such a wishy-washy answer. "I mean, um, no, you don't need to. I guess it might be a while until you see her. I'll see her again some other time. Maybe..."

Drayden nodded, sighing slightly. "You know, I gave Iris some advice several years ago, advice that she really took to heart. Even now I wonder if that was the correct advice to give."

"Really?" Bianca said.

"Yes," Drayden said, not enlightening her as to what that advice was. "Since then, Iris has absorbed herself in her quest to be champion, and now that she is one, her duties as champion. She's had time for nothing else."

Bianca nodded. She was starting to get the idea of what their conversation might have been about.

"Well, what's happened has already occurred. As humans, we can only deal with the consequences of our past decisions. Mine to give Iris specific advice, Iris's to prioritize becoming champion, and your's to become Reshiram's hero. We can change the future, but only by acknowledging the past."

"Right," Bianca said, unsure if Drayden wanted her to say anything else.

"I'm glad you understand," Drayden said, brushing his sleeve, and placing the potion to the side. He motioned Bianca to follow him to the down moving platform. "Bianca, before you leave, there is something you need to know, if you haven't heard already."

"Yes?" Bianca asked

"Those gang members from Kanto, along with Zekrom itself... They've been spotted here in Unova very recently."

Bianca was surprised, and almost shuddered at the realization. So that conflict both she and Reshiram wanted to avoid, it might be appearing pretty soon, would it? Despite her unease, Bianca just nodded, forcing herself to smile. "Thanks for letting me know."

* * *

Bianca walked up to the group with a smile on her face. She'd been looking forward to this day. Finally, she'd have a chance to discuss her own theories related to the munna. Fennel would be there as well, wouldn't she? Bianca was sure that Fennel would be impressed with the well thought out theories themselves, even if she didn't agree with them. Finally, she'd have a chance to speak out, and maybe develop her theories further.

Now, she only had to make her way to Dragonspiral Tower, where she'd be meeting Professor Juniper and a few other researchers. Bianca briefly wondered if she might have gotten lost, before she found herself on the familiar path, the even more familiar tower coming into view in the distance. There it was! Bianca just had to be sure to hurry. She might be one of the only ones to be late.

Upon arriving, Bianca ran up to the people that were there. She nodded to Gary as well as Professor Juniper senior. Was the professor's father even scheduled to be there that day? Well, it didn't matter. "Good afternoon," Bianca said politely.

"Good afternoon," Professor Juniper senior spoke.

"Yeah," Gary said curtly. "Where's everyone else, anyway? Weren't they all supposed to come?"

"Well, I'm glad I wasn't the only one confused," Bianca said. She turned to the other two and saw Gary raising an eyebrow at her comment, the professor smiling in amusement. "Oh, well, I mean, I'm sure everyone else had to turn around from our original meeting place by Entralink. It might take a little longer than usual."

"Yeah, I guess so," Gary said. He fidgeted, then started to pace.

"Why did we change, anyway? " Bianca asked. "There's no munna nearby here... At least as far as I know."

"No, not a lot of those nearby here," Gary said, still seeming distracted as he peered from side to side.

"Yes, this is one place around Unova I've never seen any," Professor Juniper senior commented.

"Oh. So, I guess we don't need to see any in the wild to discuss them," Bianca said.

"We're not doing Fennel's thing anymore," Gary said. "Didn't they tell you that when we changed our meeting place, Bianca?"

"No," Bianca said, disappointed. "So what-"

"I made an important discovery here," Gary said.

"What kind?" Bianca asked.

"Ah, well, I guess it's overstating it to say I 'discovered' anything. Some guy let me know a lot about Reshiram and all that. We're going to discuss that now."

Bianca frowned. Not only had the Fennel's presentation, which she'd really been looking forward to, been interrupted, but they had more of this. "What's left to discuss?" Bianca asked.

Gary looked up, a little surprised that Bianca was questioning him. "A lot," he said.

"Does it always have to override anything else?" Bianca said. Then she decided to be even more assertive. "I don't think it does," she said.

"Come on, Bianca! You should know better than anyone else. Those two battling has devastated this region in the past. There's plenty anyone in Unova should want to discuss and prepare for," Gary said.

"You don't need to worry about it, Gary," Bianca assured. "Reshiram doesn't want to fight. It will only do that if it has to."

Gary had no response to that. He looked away, then backed off slowly to Professor Juniper senior. "Hey professor, maybe she shouldn't be here," Bianca heard him whisper. The professor put up a hand, neither agreeing nor disagreeing with the statement.

Bianca didn't know if Gary meant for her to overhear or not, but either way, she felt a little alienated by it. "I'm going to go call the professor to see where she is," she said. "I'll be over there." Bianca pointed to an area closer to Dragonspiral tower.

"Oh? Thanks for that, Bianca," Professor Juniper senior said. Bianca nodded at him pleasantly.

When Bianca got there, she just messed around with her Xtransciever rather than actually calling anyone. Was it that people didn't trust her, now? It was true, Reshiram really, really didn't want to do any fighting. As its hero, well, appointed trainer, Bianca could only do her best to her it avoid that. Did they not trust her simply because she was associated with Reshiram, period? There's no way she could know. Even if she asked them directly, they didn't have to answer her directly. Bianca felt frustrated just thinking about it.

Then she heard some footsteps coming over the bridge from the tower. Looking up, she observed the approaching figures to try to determine which researchers it could be walking over from there. Pushing up her glasses and squinting, Bianca was sure she didn't see any researchers that she recognized at all, though she was sure she recognized who was walking over. Bianca took a step back, pulling up her glasses, though that really didn't help at all. Putting back on her glasses, Bianca accepted that she really did know these people.

"Oh?" the woman of the group said, smirking as she spoke. "It's that twerp... Isn't it? She's grown, but I guess it's been a while."

"I'm almost sure it's her, Jessie," the man said, nodding with a grin on his face.

"I'll second that," the talking pokemon said. "It thought this was a long shot, but we've found who we were looking for after all!"

Bianca took a step back. So, her opponent really had arrived.


	6. Truth Vs Ideals

**6**  
**Truth Vs. Ideals**

"What are you all doing here?" Bianca asked Team Rocket, looking around for Gary and Professor Juniper's father had gone.

"What are we doing here, she asks," the woman said. Then she struck something of a pose. "Well, since we're here, you'd better prepare for trouble!"

"And make it double!" the man said, posing beside her.

"To protect the world from devastation."

"To unite all peoples within our nation."

"To denounce the evils of truth and love."

"To extend our reach to the stars above."

"Jessie!"

"James!"

"Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light."

"Surrender now, or prepare to fight."

"Meowth, that's right!" the pokemon finished for all of them.

So, Bianca thought to herself. There was James, the talking pokemon Meowth, and of course, Jessie. Their names hadn't seemed worth remembering before, but she would now. They were important people in Unova now, or at least Jessie was. Bianca nodded thoughtfully after they finished their motto. "Right... I know you're part of that gang in Kanto," she said. "Team Rocket?" Bianca repeated. That had been what they said, hadn't it?

"Wobbuffet!" a pokemon suddenly appeared from its pokeball to confirm what Bianca had said.

"Right... But... You really didn't answer my question," Bianca said.

Jessie held up a pokeball, returning Wobbuffet with an irritated expression on her face. "What do you think we're doing here?" she said. "Team Rocket's going to take over the world, so we'll just take over Unova first! You and your annoying pokemon would be the one thing standing in our way then, right? So, we're here looking for you. You can imagine what happens next, can't you?"

Bianca felt a moment of panic as the anxiety over those words entered her heart. Then she heard Gary. "Hey, Bianca! Get back!" he shouted. Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. Though Gary had irritated her today, and more than just today, actually... She was happy he was there right then. He stood between her and the gang members, and Professor Juniper senior stood beside her.

"Leave Bianca alone," Gary said. "She's just some kid."

"Some kid that's Reshiram's new hero, right?" Jessie said. "Don't think we don't know that already. Twerps shouldn't get messed up in stuff like this if they just want to be left alone."

"Look, whatever... You all could do nothing back in Kanto," Gary said now. They had picked on Ash when he was much younger than Bianca was now too, hadn't they? "What do you think you can do now, anyway, far away from everyone else in Team Rocket? Nothing, right?"

"Things aren't the same for us as before, twerp," Meowth declared.

"That's right," James said. "Zekrom will defeat Reshiram easily! I don't doubt that!"

"Hmph. Right. Didn't you know, twerp? Team Rocket has Zekrom on its side now. So, we'll take over Unova that way," Jessie said.

"You guys are idiots," Gary said.

"Still going to mock, us, huh?" Meowth said.

"He'll regret that," James said.

"You won't be talking like that for long, brat," Jessie said, reaching for another of her pokeballs.

"Ah, please, calm down," Professor Juniper said, for the first time stepping forward. "Gary just meant to say that it's a waste to battle with Zekrom. I know many of my colleagues would be interested in studying it. You could show us the pokemon's strength that way rather than with a battle."

"Back off, old man," Jessie said.

"Team Rocket has its own group of researchers, you know," Meowth said.

"Yeah, we do," Jessie said. "And they'll be interested in Zekrom after it shows its strength, not before. So just let us mop the floor with that twerp and her reshiram already."

"We'll do it, too!" James said.

"I bet Jessie and Zekrom could make quick work of you two as well," Meowth said.

"Um," Bianca said. She had been uncomfortable at first, but was even more uncomfortable with this group threatening her co-workers. So she had to do something. Even though she'd just uttered a syllable, attention from everyone present was on her, so Bianca continued. "You all aren't from Unova, are you?"

"No. What does that have to do with anything?" Jessie said.

"Well, since you aren't, maybe you aren't familiar with Unova's legends..." Bianca said, trying to remain confident, though she looked to the side nervously.

"We're plenty familiar," Meowth declared. "Yeah, I couldn't research this stuff enough before we went to try and capture both of them."

"So then you know, don't you? That Reshiram and Zekrom are the same pokemon?" Bianca said.

"Not anymore," Jessie said.

"They used to be, right?" James said.

"Well, they used to be, yes... And when they split, they had the same strength, according to the legends. There would be no victor, if they were to fight," Bianca said.

Professor Juniper nodded. "I agree with your hypothesis, Bianca, and most versions of Unova's legends support it. The war had to end because neither pokemon could ever overpower the other."

"So, you're useless here too, since Bianca and Reshiram are here," Gary said, nodding to himself as well. Professor Juniper looked at Gary and shook his head, since Gary apparently hadn't realized that the goal of the conversation was to pacify this group. Team Rocket now all scowled, taking offence to what Gary had just said.

"Useless, huh?" Jessie said. "I think I'll take my chances. Zekrom can probably beat Reshiram, anyway."

"I know it can," James said.

"Go for it, Jessie!" Meowth cheered.

"Wait," Bianca said. "I mean, I know, it's true things would be different now. Zekrom and Reshiram's trainers - heroes are different and all. Before, the strength of the heroes had to be almost the same, right?"

"That's true," Professor Juniper said. "In the legend, the heroes were twin brothers. So their life experiences, including as trainers, were likely very similar. So their strength as trainers would have been similar, too."

"So what?" Jessie said.

"Um, so, we don't really need to bother Zekrom or Reshiram, do we?" Bianca said. "We can see what the outcome would be with a normal pokemon battle. So why don't we have one?" she suggested.

Jessie raised an eyebrow. "Can we decide who rules Unova just by a normal battle like that?"

"I guess not. But Reshiram doesn't want to 'rule' Unova anyway, and neither do I. I'm just saying let's see who's stronger with just a normal battle. It won't be as messy that way."

"And whoever loses gives up?" Jessie said.

"I wouldn't ask you to promise that," Bianca said. "You could still battle me with Zekrom afterward if you want... And I could still battle you with Reshiram as well. But if I knew you were a stronger trainer, then, well, maybe I'd hesitate."

Jessie studied Bianca's face closely. Her words seemed passive, but she stared ahead with absolute determination and purpose, ready to battle Jessie, apparently to prove that Reshiram was superior without even having Reshiram take the field. She's never prove anything that false, Jessie knew. But this twerp really had changed. Then again, while Jessie had been dealing with harsh reality in Kanto, Bianca had been able to be praised for being the new hero as the new hero of truth, as she'd stayed in the funhouse that was Unova the whole time.

Jessie could take the other 'hero' down a peg easily, she concluded. This kid was just some weakling. If a swift defeat in a 'normal' pokemon battle would cause her to 'hesitate' when it counted, or just stand down completely, all the better. "Alright," Jessie agreed. "Let's have a battle then."

Bianca smiled. Just getting Jessie to agree to this battle rather than insult on them fighting with the legendary pokemon was a success in itself. "Thank you," she said. Jessie didn't smile back at all, just frowned, and looked at Bianca warily. Bianca still kept her pleasant demeanor as she spoke again, though. "Should we have a full battle? Six against six?"

"I don't have six pokemon," Jessie said.

"Oh... Then how many?" Bianca said.

"Three against three is enough, right?" Jessie said.

"Yes, that's fine with me," Bianca agreed.

"I'll oversee the battle," Professor Juniper senior said.

"Thank you, Professor," Bianca said. As she stepped back, she started thinking quickly about which pokemon to use. The one pokemon Bianca remembered of Jessie's was that big blue one - Wobbuffet, was it? Right. Wobbuffet was a psychic type. So she should avoiding her fighting types, like Emboar. Then again, it there was something weird about it... That's right, it couldn't really attack, just use moves like mirror coat, which could cause damage only after damage had been caused to it. So, Bianca concluded, she should use her toughest pokemon.

"Ready?" Jessie said.

"Yes," Bianca nodded in affirmation, quickly deciding which three pokemon might count as 'toughest' in this context.

"Ready, kid?" Jessie asked. Bianca nodded. "Let's go then." They both threw out their pokeballs at the same time.

"Go, Emboar!" Bianca shouted.

"Arbok!" Jessie said.

Oh, Bianca realized she'd predicted Jessie's first pokemon wrong. It wasn't the wobbuffet. The pokemon she had used, though foreign, was kind of familiar, and Bianca remembered that Jessie had used it once before, just not much else about it. Well, snake pokemon like this, they were poisonous, right? It really did look like a poisonous pokemon.

"Arbok, acid attack!" Jessie shouted. Arbok spit acid at Emboar, who put up its arms in defence.

Right. Poison type. "Emboar, return!" Bianca shouted, taking back her first pokemon.

"Running away?" Jessie said.

Bianca shook her head, then threw our her next pokeball. "Go, Musharna."

"Huh?" Jessie said, raising an eyebrow. "Are you sure it's okay for you to be using this pokemon?"

"Of course," Bianca said, confused to what reason she might not want to use it. This wasn't the time to ask, though. "Musharna, psychic!"

"Whatever," Jessie said with a shrug. "Arbok, wrap attack!" she shouted.

Arbok wrapped itself around Musharna before the psychic attack hit. Arbok shouted out in pain, but only increased its grip on Musharna, who whined. "Musharna!" Bianca said in surprise.

"Right, you think you can beat me because it's a psychic pokemon? You'd need a few more of those bugs to do that. Arbok, poison sting!" Jessie shouted.

"Charbok!" Arbok shouted as it spit the needles into Musharna's face. Musharna cried out in pain.

"Musharna, try yawn," Bianca said. She should have tried that at first. It might have at least have made Jessie's aggressive pokemon more sluggish. Musharna tried the yawn attack, but Arbok just squeezed harder, and Musharna's face had turned purplish. Maybe it was poisoned, or couldn't breath, Bianca fretted.

"Alright, good job, Arbok. Finish that pokemon off! Acid!" Jessie ordered. With Musharna restrained, Arbok's attack hit dead on.

"Musha..." Musharna squealed.

"That's enough!" Bianca said. She could tell Musharna was suffering from Arbok's restraint as well as the apparent poison. She held out her pokeball and tried to return her pokemon, but Arbok blocked the signal from reaching Musharna. "Please, that's enough. Musharna isn't able to battle like this."

"Isn't it knocked out yet? Arbok-"

"Please!" Bianca begged. "Just let it go so I can return it."

"You won't send it out again, will you?" Jessie said.

"No! I've already said it's unable to battle," Bianca said.

"Fine," Jessie agreed apathetically. "Arbok, let that insect go."

Didn't she knew that Musharna was psychic type? Bianca definitely didn't say this aloud, just returned Musharna right away as Arbok's grip slacked. No, switching out hadn't been the best choice. Of her remaining two pokemon, the one Bianca had first sent out would be more difficult for Arbok to restrained based on size alone. "Go back out, Emboar," Bianca yelled.

"This one again?" Jessie said. "Arbok, head butt attack!"

"Emboar, return attack," Bianca said.

Arbok's physical attack hit first, but Emboar was able to bear it, then let loose with the powerful attack that Bianca had seen fit to teach all of her pokemon. As it was hit, Arbok flew back on the field, limp. It had to be knocked out, Bianca noticed happily. "Arbok is unable to battle," Professor Juniper agreed.

So, she wasn't that bad off after all, Bianca realized. Both she and Jessie had two pokemon left. Jessie looked annoyed, but still just pulled out her next pokeball. "Go, Woobat!" Jessie said.

Woobat? Bianca studied the small pokemon as it flew above the ground, waiting for Jessie's directions. This was a small, unevolved pokemon, but flying type attacks were strong against fighting types, weren't they? Bianca nodded to herself, but she wasn't ready to make the mistake of hastily switching out again. Like Jessie, she might win with the power advantage alone. "Emboar, flare blitz!"

"Woobat, air slash!" Jessie shouted.

Again, Emboar was slow, and was hit by Woobat's attack as it ran forward to commence with its own attack. Emboar winced, but still moved close to Woobat, beginning the flashy fire type attack. Woobat flew back as it was hit, eventually crashing on the ground.

"Woobat is unable to battle," Professor Juniper assessed.

Jessie returned her pokemon with a scowl on her face. "You won't win this easily," she declared to Bianca. "Wobbuffet! Get ready to spit everything back at this brat!"

So, there was the pokemon she'd been expecting in the first place. Only now, Emboar was tired out from facing the previous two, and having had taken damage from both of them. Bianca peered at the waiting wobbuffet, and then back at Emboar, who really did seem effected, breathing quicker, with its eyes half closed. Maybe she should return it.

"Emboar?" the pokemon said, looking back at Bianca.

Bianca nodded. She'd been taking too long to give it a command. Her pokemon wanted to see how far it could push itself, and was willing to push itself a little father. "Emboar, try flare blitz again!" Bianca ordered.

"Emboar!" Emboar said with a nod, and ran toward Wobbuffet.

"Wobbuffet! Counter!" Jessie said.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet agreed. Its psychic force hit Emboar right after Emboar had thrown the fire toward it. Emboar crashed to the ground.

"Emboar is unable-" Professor Juniper began.

"Emboar, return," Bianca said. "Good job," she muttered, holding the pokeball close to her. This was somewhat of a serious battle, and her starter pokemon had given its best. Now for her last pokemon. "Go, Chandelure," Bianca said.

As Chandelure exited its pokeball and floated out in the air, Jessie raised an eyebrow. "You're really into fire types, aren't you, brat?"

"Maybe a little," Bianca admitted.

"I never got the electric type I wanted. Until I got Zekrom, of course," Jessie said.

Bianca ignored what Jessie had said, observing the wobbuffet again, wondering if Jessie knew that Chandelure wasn't _only_ a fire type. It was part ghost type, and Bianca was fairly sure it could knock out Wobbuffet quickly with this type advantage, especially considering that Wobbuffet had just taken Emboar's most powerful attack. She looked at Jessie again, waiting for her to possibly surrender. The outcome was obvious from this point.

"What are you waiting for, brat? You know Wobbuffet can't attack unless you do something first, don't you?" Jessie demanded.

Bianca nodded. No, there was no more reason to hesitate. "Shadow ball!" Bianca ordered. Chandelure quickly followed the command, shooting the round, darkly colored energy toward Wobbuffet.

"Wobbuffet, counter!" Jessie ordered.

"Wobbu..." Wobbuffet said nervously, looking up at the incoming attack. It was quickly hit, and just as quickly fell over ."Wobbu... fet..." it muttered.

"Wobbuffet is unable to battle. Bianca and Chandelure win the battle," Professor Juniper announced.

"We don't need you to state the obvious," Jessie snapped, returning Wobbuffet.

"Hey Bianca, not bad. I mean, you have to consider who you were up against, but you've gotten better," Gary complimented.

"Just shut up, brat!" Jessie said.

"Indeed," Professor Juniper senior agreed. "Not only have your pokemon gotten stronger, but your personal confidence has increased, hasn't it? All that together had greatly improve your performance."

"Ah, thank you," Bianca said awkwardly. But this might not be the end, she knew. Bianca looked over at Jessie, trying to hide her nervousness. Would Jessie try and battle with Zekrom now?

"Jessie, you don't have to listen to this," James said.

"Yeah! You gonna take out Zekrom and teach them what for?" Meowth asked.

"Let's just get out of here," Jessie said, turning her back.

Hearing and seeing Jessie's reaction, then watching the Team Rocket members walk into the distance, Bianca breathed a sigh of relief. So, it was over for now. Maybe for good, though she couldn't really assume that right away. Now Bianca thought of how those present had just complemented her. Even Drayden had earlier, hadn't he? She really had gotten better at this kind of thing, hadn't she? She hadn't been able to defend herself against that very group a couple years ago. Now, she was a formidable trainer, at least being able to defend herself to this extent. Even knowing this conflict probably wasn't over, Bianca allowed herself to feel the moment's happiness just for this fact.


	7. The Price of Ideals

**7**  
**The Price of Ideals**

They weren't running away, Jessie told herself. They were just regrouping. It would have been stupid to just keep continuing, even with Zekrom on their side. They just had to temporarily leave, and then figure out a way they could definitely win. There had to be one, right?

Meowth looked up at Jessie as they walked along the path back to Icirrus City. "It feels bad, just running away like that," it said.

"We're not!" Jessie insisted. "I thought I'd make quick work of that weak brat's team and get her to surrender easily, but I didn't. So-"

"Yeah, we know her from somewhere, don't we?" Meowth said.

"I told you!" James said. "She was that Iris twerp's friend. The one we stole from."

"Oh yeah, that kid," Meowth said.

"Good thing you two recognized her, because I didn't at all," Jessie said irritably. "I don't even remember having met her before today."

"Really? But-" Meowth began.

"Yes, really! Now I have to let my pokemon recover! So leave me alone!" Jessie said. She stopped, on a peak overlooking the town of Icirrus. It looked like a pleasant enough place, and they'd probably heal her pokemon at that center if she asked. But not without calling the police on them or something, like they had in Kanto when she and James had decided their pokemon were in bad enough shape to visit a pokemon center.

So, Jessie had to see how her pokemon were doing, and what would best allow them to recover. She released all three, then took a look at them. Wobbuffet looked in a best shape, but as long as it had even the slightest bit of energy, it usually stood up straight like this. "You're fine, right?" Jessie said to it.

"Wobbuffet," Wobbuffet confirmed in a mutter.

"Charrbok," Arbok said, putting its head up to try and confirm that it was alright too.

"Alright Arbok, you did well to take care of that little bug. Too bad her other pokemon were so overpowered," Jessie said. Then she turned to her final pokemon. Woobat definitely looked pathetic. It didn't even fly, only lay there on the ground like a rag. Jessie was annoyed to look at it. What kind of woobat couldn't just get up and fly?

"Hey," Jessie said. Woobat looked up with its weirdly shaped eye. "So, you're still alive," Jessie said, picking it up. She took out a water bottle, and put some in Woobat's mouth. "Liven up. It's not that bad."

Woobat made a slightly cheerful sound, then flew out of Jessie's arms, flying beside her. Now that she was sure all of her pokemon really were fine, Jessie could relax a moment.

"Here's our last potion," James said.

"Save it," Jessie said. "They aren't in that bad shape."

"Alright," James said, putting it away. "Hey, Jessie..." he began.

"What is it?" Jessie asked.

"I don't care if you lost this time. You and Zekrom will definitely win next time," James said.

"Oh? You have that much faith in Zekrom, huh?" Jessie said with a smile.

"No," James said, shaking his head. "It's you, Jessie. You'll win, not Zekrom. Zekrom is just a tool, but your ideals will win out, won't they?"

"Mm," Jessie confirmed, irritated though she wasn't really sure why. "Yeah, fine. Just leave me alone a few minutes, James."

"Wobbuffet," Wobbuffet agreed.

James nodded, looking away awkwardly. "Okay," he said before meandering off.

How could James have that much faith in her, anyway? Jessie scowled as she wondered this to herself. Yes, she did remember that one brat- Bianca, wasn't it? The little twerp had been the biggest pushover ever just a few years ago, Jessie recalled. If Bianca didn't have such a powerful friend in Iris, then those stolen pokemon would have never been recovered.

But now was different. Just in two years, that annoying kid had grown and become this powerful. Even without Reshiram standing behind her, Bianca had won. She was a better trainer than Jessie, and if Reshiram and Zekrom were the same, then Bianca and Reshiram would be the victor in a battle, wouldn't they?

"You shouldn't have wasted your time with that," Zekrom said.

"Zekrom," Jessie said. It shouldn't appear in illusions when they were now in Unova and it could appear in complete reality. "What do you want now?"

"For my hero to finally take action," Zekrom said.

"I didn't really feel like it," Jessie said.

"You were doubting yourself just form one loss."

"I wasn't doubting myself at all. I just got bored after I lost," Jessie said.

"You think you can lie to me, Jessie?" Zekrom said. "You absolutely doubted yourself there."

"If I did or I didn't, so what?" Jessie said.

"Hmph," Zekrom said. It dropped the subject, deciding to move on. "I wonder why my counterpart chose that girl."

Jessie scowled. Yeah, Jessie admitted only in her private thoughts, she'd lost in a fair battle to a weakling.

"I suppose it's easy to be the hero of truth when you already live in ideals," Zekrom mused.

"What do you mean?" Jessie asked, looking up at Reshiram curiously.

"Her life is paved out for her success, and there's no reason for her to be unhappy with it."

"So, you read her mind now too?" Jessie said. She smirked. "Maybe you are just one pokemon, you and Reshiram, messing with the two of us."

"You're wrong. I can't read her mind, that bond I have with a human is limited to you. I can infer things, as can you. Did you have so many fully evolved pokemon at her age?"

"You know I didn't, don't you," Jessie said. She'd never even had her first pokemon until she was well into her adult years, when she'd received Arbok, then Ekans, as a gift. And after that she'd been able to catch only two, accidentally trading for Wobbuffet. She could get more, since she had other pokeballs, but then might have trouble taking care of all of them. Maybe Woobat would have evolved already, had it gotten better care in the hands of a better trainer.

"Considering every advantage she has, can you really consider her to be a 'better' trainer just for having won today?"

"Guess not," Jessie said. She liked Zekrom's point of view. Jessie wasn't weak, she told herself. The brat just had buckets full of advantage over her from the start. Just knowing that didn't change anything though. "She has a bunch of allies, though. We don't. Fighting her, do you think we'd be overpowered again?" Jessie asked. She was silent after that question. She'd still fight confidently, giving it her all. But this question was part of the doubt that she'd keep to herself. Zekrom could see it without her having said anything, though, so they may as well discuss it out loud.

"Don't doubt, Jessie. It's not fitting for my hero of ideals to allow such a thing into her heart," Zekrom said. "Instead, confidently walk forward and give it your all, as you always have. Your partner knows it only because he learned it from you. You'll definitely win."

"Quit rambling. I won't be naïve about this. Just how is it you think you'll win, Zekrom?" Jessie said.

"Hmph. Fine," Zekrom said.

"Fine? Fine what?" Jessie asked.

"Just as the hero of truth was able to call upon the power of ideals, I'll delve into the truth for you."

"What do you mean?" Jessie asked, almost bored by Zekrom's banter.

"I have a bit of truth that you'll like, and not even Reshiram would like to admit to."

"Oh?" Jessie said, slightly curious.

"First tell me, Jessie. Who is it they say won the war today?" Zekrom asked.

"Your war, you mean?" Jessie said. "No one," Jessie said. "Before anyone knew you and Reshiram really existed, it was just some kid's story about how fighting was pointless and wrong, wasn't it?" Jessie sighed. She didn't really believe in that moral, as there was plenty she had to fight for, but it was frustrating that this lesson now seemed to be reflected in her reality.

"That's what our history has become? There's as little truth to that lesson as there is to the end of how they now tell my story," Zekrom said. It looked at Jessie, who didn't reply. "I won the war! My hero and I were the undeniable victors."

With this declaration, Jessie felt a surge of confidence. Yes, she definitely had the drive to win, with this pokemon that was a winner... Still, not all of her doubts went away. Zekrom might only be saying it to build the confidence it wanted her to have. "I guess it's easy for you to say that now. Only Reshiram's around to argue with what you said happened, and I'm not about to go ask it," Jessie pointed out.

"Why would the pokemon of truth argue with the truth? If you had the opportunity to ask Reshiram, I'm sure it would confirm my victory. It would then tell you that's why it had no choice but to cowardly allow both of us to be sealed away," Zekrom explained. "I can see this confuses you," it said. "I'll show you."

The false landscape blew away like so much dust, to be replaced with another scene. Jessie looked around. They were in a dark cellar of some kind. Jessie noticed the bars around her. "What is this, Zekrom?" she demanded loudly. She looked around for the pokemon, which probably couldn't fit in a small space like this, and saw an unknown person close by to her instead, laying down on the dirt floor. "Oh," Jessie said, momentarily surprised that someone else had been there without her having noticed before. But as the other person paid her no mind, Jessie decided to reflect that attitude. "Zekrom!" she shouted.

"Calm down, Jessie. This is merely a memory. Just as I can look in your's, I can also show you mine," Zekrom spoke from somewhere.

"Is it from this world, or one of your other worlds?" Jessie said.

"Just like you, this is the only world I've resided in. This is from the end of the war. That is my hero."

"Doesn't look very heroic," Jessie commented dryly.

"This was a difficult moment," Zekrom said. After it spoke, there was a loud sound, and two men came into the dungeon, throwing a bag against the wall outside the dungeon. Zekrom's hero stood up, gripping onto the bars, and looked forward anxiously. Jessie looked at the hero for a moment with surprise. Did Zekrom identify the wrong person? In every version of the story she'd seen, in every representation on every painting, Zekrom and Reshiram's heroes had both been men. "She's a woman."

"Yes," Zekrom confirmed.

"Reshiram's hero was too?" Jessie said.

"Of course. Since mine was, Reshiram's was as well," Zekrom said. Jessie nodded. They were supposed to be identical twins, after all.

"Hmph. To think we once feared you," one of the men said.

The original hero of ideals grit her teeth. She did look pathetic, filthy, her outfit mud-splattered with many of the pieces of her armor cracked or broken apart. Still, she held her head high and faced them. "You still ought to fear me! You know who stands behind me!"

"There's no need to fear you for that reason. That horrible monster has been contained at last. Its punishment is its containment, but your's will decided at your trial."

"To the victor go the spoils!" the woman declared, then took a deep breath. She spun around her cell, grinning now. "With my victory, everyone wins!" she declared happily. "Even you will benefit from the results of this war. How could you damn either me or Zekrom?"

The men shook their head now. They stared at her, without anger, but almost pity. The woman's expression changed to anger herself, and she looked away from them. As she heard them moving back up the stairs, she shouted, banging and pushing against the bars. Nothing responded, and in this memory, she was absolutely alone.

"Hero," Zekrom's voice went through her mind.

"What?" Jessie asked.

"Zekrom?" the former hero said at the same time, and Jessie realized the zekrom that had called for her was one of the memory. The former hero looked around. She could see some kind of flickering light, coming from the bag in the corner. She reached her hand toward it underneath the bars of her cell, scraping her entire arm as she did. The former hero shouted in pain, but otherwise didn't pay her new injury any mind, only continuing to reach under the bars of the cell. Reaching further and further, scraping up her shoulder now, she eventually got hold of a bit of the bag, and pulled it over.

The former hero shouted as she saw the round rock roll out, and scurried to get it. It was too big to fit through the bars, but she still held onto it, studying it closely as light briefly flashed from it. "Zekrom! What's become of you?" she asked. "I'm sorry... I never should have doubted your, no, my ideals! I never should have looked at Reshiram's 'truth' and-"

"My hero, please listen and don't despair," the zekrom of memory said. "I've been flimsily sealed in my quest to rescue you, but the seal can be easily broken. Just bring this dark stone to Entralink, and we'll easily find a way to revive me. Then we can bathe the landscape red with the blood of all the humans who oppose you."

The hero sighed, and shook her head. "After your massive display of power, if they don't accept us, or at least fear us to their own submission, no show of force will convince them to. We'll allow those that remain to live."

"So you still have lingering doubt? And here I thought you'd learned. Our ideals can be reached if-"

"Quiet, Zekrom!" the hero ordered loudly. Jessie had to smirk. She and Zekrom had engaged in similar banter before. Zekrom listened to his original hero more easily it seemed, since it became silent right away.

"We've won," the former hero said calmly. "Our ideals have been reached. I can't allow the bloodshed to continue. Even if I'm the only one who does, I'll enjoy Unova."

"How? In your cell? Is this an appropriate place for you, or even myself, hero? Buried under the ground of the region we fought so hard for, while your captors truly enjoy the result of our efforts?"

"Will they enjoy our ideal, without acknowledging it?" the hero said. "Though part of my wish for this land was for everyone to love it as much as I do, I don't believe they will right now."

"So, we should-"

"We're finished," the hero declared. "Unova is a beautiful place where ideals can be reached. The people of this time are set in their ways and can't appreciate that. But I have faith that people eventually will. Just not in my lifetime." The hero looked down at the glowing dark stone and grinned. "If you're so flimsily sealed, I'm sure others could unseal you easily enough."

"You could," Zekrom said. Electricity flowed from the dark stone into the bars, and the lock broke open.

The hero slowly pushed the door open, trying to make as little noise as possible. "I could," she said quietly. "But I'm tired of the war."

"Don't let your cowardice stop you from winning!" Zekrom said.

"Haven't I said that we've already won?" the former hero shouted back, scowling at the dark stone on the floor. She picked it up anyway, holding it close. "Don't be so impatient, Zekrom," she said softly now. "Minds aren't as easy to mold as the land itself. Those alive now won't accept Unova's rebirth, and will still ruminate on the old, dead Unova. But wait a few generations. Then the new Unova be accepted easily, by the fresh, untainted minds of the people."

"I'd prefer a different solution, but if this is what you've decided on, I'll agree to it," Zekrom said.

"It is," the hero said. "Wait a few hundred years, even if someone unseals you before then. You can see the state of things, then decide yourself if further action needs to be taken."

"I understand," Zekrom said.

The hero ascended the stairs. A few surprised guards looked her way. "Get her!" one of the men shouted. The hero felt the dark stone moving and dropped it. Bright blue electricity escaped from it, hitting everyone in the room other than her. They screamed and fell, some but not all knocked out.

The hero leaned up and picked up the dark stone, quietly giggling. "It seems that even contained, Zekrom has some power to expend. You all may follow me at your own peril." The hero walked out of the building, refusing to run like a common criminal might upon escape.

Getting outside, she still strolled at a leisurely pace, breathing in the fresh air. "Unova really is beautiful," she said, taking in the green forests and clean air. "I'm sure in some years time, all will appreciate our efforts." After a while of walking, she sat down, watching the sun set over the horizon, taking on a reddish hue, and sighed in relief. "If not, then you'd be around to correct things to your own liking, won't you?"

"Are you still decided on that, my hero?" Zekrom said.

"Of course," the former hero said.

"But you realize in order to maintain my power in my current form, I need a human," Zekrom said.

"You'll find someone," the former hero of ideals assured.

"Where am I to find another hero with a heart as strong as your's?" Zekrom said.

"Do you think it will really be that difficult?" the former hero said. "I wonder..."

With that line, Jessie faded back to the present, seeing her own pokemon resting in front of her in her own sunset, Arbok coiled around Wobbuffet loosely, and Woobat was next to it. Jessie smiled, then looked over at Zekrom. "I'm not like your hero, I hope you know," she said.

"In many ways, you remind me of her," Zekrom said.

"Maybe superficially," Jessie said. "But I'd never just give up and hope for things to be better in a few hundred years. I'll make things better in my lifetime. Conquering Unova would be a really good start."

"Better Unova belong to you than any of these fools who choose to give up on their ideals," Zekrom said.

"Fine, then we're on the same page, more or less," Jessie said. "Right?" Zekrom nodded at her. "Winner back then, and winner now," Jessie said, becoming contented. "So Zekrom, are your moves that much better than Reshiram's?"

"I'd say so, but it's a matter of opinion. Reshiram puts up a fierce fight and won't be defeated easily, since its strength can match my own," Zekrom said.

"Oh. Then what was she talking about, with your 'display of force'?" Jessie asked. She might have misinterpreted that too, but Jessie had thought it was some kind of power that even Reshiram couldn't defend against. After all, Reshiram didn't even get a mention, so it must have been just an afterthought.

"Oh, that. My former hero wasn't referring to my power specifically, but the power I now control and guard - the power of Entralink," Zekrom explained.

Jessie shivered, remember her visit to Entralink, when she'd first captured Zekrom. It was a really creepy place, where one could see all kind of delusions. The entirety of Entralink was an illusion in itself to hide that power, Jessie recalled. But still, she had to ask. "What kind of power is Entralink's power?"

"Haven't I already told you, Jessie?" Zekrom said. Jessie shook her head. "I have!" Zekrom insisted. Then it calmed down. "You wanted to avoid such a great power, don't you remember?"

"I remember everything that happened in Entralink," Jessie said. "What I don't remember is you ever telling me anything about any kind of enormous power!"

"I did. I told you all about how you can observe any reality there that you wish, transfer things to those realities, and even pull things from other realities into this one," Zekrom said. It was irritated, but so was its current hero, Zekrom observed. "I suppose you can't understand how truly limitless this power is unless you observe it yourself. I'll show you my memory of the Entralink of a millennium ago, when my hero decided to use it."

"Fine," Jessie said. It didn't even bother her this time, Zekrom messing with her senses to show her the Entralink of so long ago. Jessie floated far above a stone temple this time. It was a round shape, but no water surrounded it. Could this be the Entralink of a thousand years ago? A lot could have changed since then.

If it was Entralink, then Entralink itself hadn't been the only thing that had changed. Jessie looked around at the landscape. It was really stark. The earth was scorched, the air dirty and dusty. The zekrom of memory flew down to the temple. Jessie saw that it peered down into a small courtyard. There was the Entree, absolutely. Jessie recognized it. Though the area around it was different, the Entree was exactly the same as a millennium later. They had it open to the sky, which seemed kind of reckless, Jessie considered, but then she noticed that the walls had been broken away, perhaps by Zekrom itself.

"Hero!" Zekrom shouted. In full armor, its hero had collapsed by the Entree. "Hero! Get hold of yourself."

The former hero of ideals eventually coughed, sitting up. "I apologize, Zekrom," she said. "How many days has it been now?"

"We're onto the ninth day of battle. Reshiram has momentarily retreated, and I've managed to keep it away from here so far."

"I thank you for that, Zekrom. I could choose something now, but I don't want to quickly rearrange this place. I want perfection," the hero said.

"I wouldn't forgive you if you accepted anything else. Don't worry about me, just continue your search."

The hero nodded. "I won't give up, no matter how long it takes," she declared.

Jessie flinched, watching the other woman step into the pond by the Entree. Jessie had gone into some really weird place just by slightly touching that water with her hand, she recalled. What kind of madness was the hero of old wading into?

Jessie was distracted as Zekrom flew away, and her own consciousness was drawn away from the area. Zekrom went and faced Reshiram now. They both roared out at each, not bothering with human words. Reshiram's flame began to glow blue, and so did Zekrom. The entire barren landscape along with the stone temple glowed a strange blue hue.

Then the pokemon threw their two powerful attacks at each other. Reshiram's flame spread out in front of it, over the land, and Zekrom's electric attacks flowed through the sky. The two pokemon cried as they were both hit. They weren't anything close to knocked out though, just angrier, if that were possible. Jessie watched as Zekrom went for a closer attack, slashing at Reshiram. Reshiram only used the opportunity to slash at Zekrom itself. After they hit at each other for a while, they moved back, starting to glow again.

"Nine days of this?" Jessie said.

"That's only nine days in a row," Zekrom said. "Reshiram and I fought often. This, however, was the final time."

"The final time? You really did have something to dwarf Reshiram's powers in Entralink, huh?" Jessie asked.

"Indeed," Zekrom confirmed proudly. "We defeated Reshiram's 'truth' easily with this power."

The scene faded away, and then Jessie was back by the Entree. Jessie watched the former hero of ideals. That woman still stood in the glowing water by the Entree, looking up at Zekrom with circles under her eyes. As the hero had been looking in the Entralink pool for days, there was definitely some exhaustion on her face. But as she saw Zekrom, she grinned. "Are you ready, Zekrom?" she asked, shouting above her.

"Yes," Zekrom confirmed.

With that, the smile of the former hero of ideals grew wider. "I believe this is something we can accomplish," she said.

"It is! I have no hesitation about this," Zekrom said.

"Let's go then," the hero said. Just as she spoke, Reshiram appeared, roaring at Zekrom.

"Careful! I'm down here!" the hero shouted.

Reshiram did seem to follow the instructions of the hero of ideals, backing its face away. "I can see what you're about to do. Reconsider your options," Reshiram said.

"It's too late!" the hero declared. "We're going to destroy the 'truth'!" She held out her arms, and the water around the Entree glowed even brighter. As it did, the sky grew darker and darker, until the water's light was a blinding flash, and the sky was pitch dark. At that point, Zekrom and its hero both disappeared. Reshiram got up, flying away quickly.

High in the sky, the former hero of ideals stood, looking down upon the world from a floating mass of land. She started to laugh. "Finally, Zekrom. The 'truth' will be erased. Unova, no, the world, will be a place worth living in at last. Can you imagine it?"

"I've seen your vision, hero. I imagine Unova will be a jewel that the entire world will envy and try to replicate."

The hero of ideals closed her eyes, a peaceful smile on her face. She felt the cool, rushing wind going by her face. The crisp air was clean, unlike on the land on the surface. The trees around her were beautiful, unlike the landscape which had been abused before the war, and now charred to near ash from both Reshiram and Zekrom's fight. What about that land was worth preserving? Even though she'd grown up in it, the hero determined there was absolutely nothing!

The land lowered itself in the air, almost like magic with the power of Entralink. It went down, further and further. The deafening crash of the new land on top of the old would drown out any screams. Zekrom and its hero certainly couldn't hear anything else as the new land of Unova crushed the land underneath it, warping it into buried sediment. The wind blew, and all the dust disappeared. Left was only the perfect-looking new Unova.

"Come on, Zekrom," the hero said. "I can't rest until I see this."

"Let's go."

Zekrom flew up with its hero on its back. They observed the new land of Unova, full of streams and pokemon. It looked peaceful. The Entree in the new Entralink still remained. The temple was complete gone, the Entree enveloped by the new land. Zekrom and its hero continued flying to the edge, where the new Unova ended by the old tower where Zekrom and Reshiram had been born. Reshiram stood there, in a offensive stance, but not ready to fight.

Jessie stared at it, then back at Zekrom and the former hero. Do you know what you've done, Reshiram seemed to ask, though no with words. Zekrom and its hero were both cheerful, and continued flying through the air. This was the end of the Zekrom's memory, but Jessie hardly noticed it as her perceptions changed to reflect reality. She stood a moment in silence.

"Do you understand now?" Zekrom asked.

"Yes," Jessie confirmed. "Usually the story of you and Reshiram says there's no 'right' side. No villains, just heroes. But you're actually the villain, aren't you?"

"Am I?"

"Obviously," Jessie said.

"Well, aren't you also the villain, Jessie?" Zekrom said.

"No! I don't play by some righteous set of self-important rules, but I'd never do something like that!" Jessie shouted.

"There's only one way to prove that. And that's to win. The villain always loses. Once you win, you can write yourself as the hero, no matter what you've done to claim your victory."

"Even if you just killed a bunch of people?" Jessie said. "How many were down in the old Unova, huh?"

"Myself and my hero spent years warning them all to leave. Should she or I feel guilt because they repeatedly ignored us? I'll also tell you that in that time, the abilities of the Entree in Entralink were well known, and she made no secret of her ability and intent to use them," Zekrom said.

Jessie nodded. As an outsider, she thought that story was pretty terrible. Since, she'd only seen the end of what was likely a long story, with lots of sacrifice that the former hero of ideals put forth in order to reach her goal of giving birth to a new land. Would Jessie use similar logic to justify her actions, despite the severity of the consequences, having lived through the story?

No, she decided. "I'm really nothing like your former 'hero'. I wouldn't do anything like that," Jessie told Zekrom.

"But you are. Like yourself, she also wanted to change this world into her ideal, even when provided with the power to travel to a better one," Zekrom said. As Jessie sighed then sat in silence, it continued. "Do you understand, really? I don't think you do. Reshiram couldn't. So many humans couldn't, and just dismissed Entralink as 'dangerous'. It's difficult to understand something limitless when you limit yourself to the 'truth'. Entralink is your's to use or ignore. At least now you can understand its importance if not its potential."

"I'm starting to get it," Jessie said. Entralink was limitless, though it could also be limited. Maybe it could be the key to her victory, if she considered how to use it carefully. "Thanks for the truth, Zekrom," Jessie said. Or at least as much of it as Zekrom was willing to give. "I guess it must have been tough for you to tell me." Zekrom neither confirmed nor denied that statement. Jessie went to look for her companions. Even if Zekrom was the villain, they were going to end this story as the heroes.


	8. The Existence of Nothingness

**8**  
**The Existence of Nothingness**

Bianca wasn't praised for her accomplishment, but rather had everyone, including Professor Juniper, worried about her. Bianca tried to ease their fears with facts like the Team Rocket group had left on their own, after battling without the legendary pokemon. There was also the fact that no other members of that shady group from Kanto had been spotted. And, Bianca told herself but not others, she was now able to handle herself against a group like that.

Maybe it wasn't anything to be proud of, just being able to defend herself on her own against one person's pokemon, but Bianca acknowledged it as an accomplishment within herself. She'd done pretty well for herself. Now, she walked into the restaurant with Professor Juniper, feeling pretty good about herself. Seeing Iris in the corner, two axew by her side, Bianca waved. "Iris!" she shouted.

"Bianca! I've hardly ordered yet! Come over here, then we can eat together!" Iris said.

Bianca looked over at Professor Juniper awkwardly. They'd come here to meet someone. "Why don't you go ahead," the professor said. "I'm sure no one will blame you for catching up with an old friend. You can say what you need to everyone later."

Bianca nodded. She'd actually been hoping that the professor would invite Iris to join them, or at least say she should turn down Iris politely, but instead there was this. Well, at least she'd get a break from hearing about everyone's worries. Bianca's former girlfriend definitely looked happy about seeing her too, and that was nice. Bianca walked over and sat down next to Iris. Iris grinned happily as she did. "I'm so happy to see you," Iris said, squeezing Bianca's hand.

Bianca smiled warmly as she did. "You too, Iris. I guess it's been a while. Are these your's?" Bianca looked down at the two Axew.

"Well, I just thought I'd train them for some kids back in my old village," Iris said. "They're already pretty well-behaved, even though they're young. Right guys?"

"Axew," one said, laying its head against Iris's leg.

"Axew!" the other echoed, lifting a hand up. It looked up at Bianca, and even she had to admit to herself that these two axew were cute, especially for their species.

"I can't believe what happened! Those two are getting really bold, aren't they?" Iris said.

"They look really well behaved to me," Bianca said, looking down at the two axew.

"I mean that 'Team Rocket' group!" Iris said.

"Oh," Bianca said. "Well, they did do this before, a long time ago," she pointed out.

"I guess so. But you showed them, huh?" Iris smiled, thinking of how Bianca had won. Bianca smiled back, happy that someone else was recognizing this as an accomplishment. They held each other hand, closing their eyes in a peaceful moment of silence between the two.

Iris broke the silence after a few minutes. "If they gang up on you, I can still take them on," she said. Then he eyes opened happily. "I know! I can be your bodyguard," she suggested.

"Do you really have time for that, Iris?" Bianca asked.

"Of course! You're an important person to Unova, so I'll make time for you," Iris said. She leaned closer. "You're also an important person to me."

Bianca blushed, her face heating up. As Iris firmly but gently held her hand, Bianca put her other hand up, pushing her hair back behind her ear, then pushing her glasses up her nose. "That's nice of you to say," Bianca eventually said.

"It's true," Iris said.

"Ah- I know," Bianca said. "I- Well..." Bianca looked around a moment. No one was noticing them, and even if they were, Bianca herself didn't mind, as long as Iris didn't either. "You're also important to me, Iris," Bianca said. "I'm so happy you're successful... I am a little jealous of your success for taking you away, though."

Iris felt a moment of elation hearing this. She'd wanted to have a conversation like this for a very long time. Even after their break up, she and Bianca had still been close, and stayed friends, but they'd never gone as far as to say things like this aloud. Had she been wrong to choose success over Bianca? No, she confirmed, that was just where things were at that moment... But at this moment, maybe it was the right time for both her and Bianca, Iris thought. She could feel happy both for her continued success and now work on repairing things with the girl she still loved.

"Ah, Iris, it's you, isn't it? And Bianca too!"

Iris's felt the nice mood around them be shaken and shattered just by the familiar voice. It was Alder, alright. He sat down with them like he belonged there, laughing his annoying laugh. "And Bianca! It's been a while."

"Hello, Alder," Bianca said with a nod.

Iris realized that her hand had been separated from Bianca's without her even realizing it and frowned. Didn't Alder know a private moment when he saw one? "Is there something you wanted to say to me, Alder?" Iris asked, forcing a polite expression on her face, though she was sure it looked skewed. It might not matter to Alder, who smelled like alcohol even if he might not be completely drunk yet. He barely took notice of other people's feelings anyway, Iris told herself.

"I just saw two pretty girls alone, and thought I'd join them for a date myself. That's fine, isn't it?" Alder said.

"Ye-" Bianca began.

"No way! That's gross!" Iris exclaimed.

"Iris," Bianca said, embarrassed at her outburst.

Alder found it amusing, and just laughed. "It's just a joke, Iris," he said, winking.

"It's a disgusting joke," Iris said, an absolute deadpan expression on her face.

"Sorry then," Alder said casually, not seeming sorry to Iris at all. "I'm just your uninvited guest then. Is that suitable?"

Not really, Iris thought. "Yes," Bianca said.

"Good, good," Alder said. "So, Bianca, the real reason I had to come join you was a conversation that was going on at the other table. Why didn't you ever tell me before that you were the new hero of truth?"

"Oh... Well, it didn't seem important," Bianca said.

"It certainly is important! Why, I'd say you... Well, let's not leave Iris out... You and Iris are the two most important girls in Unova."

"That's right," Iris confirmed. "Also the two most important people in Unova," she added dryly.

"Of course, of course!" Alder said. The waitress came to take their order, and Alder gave his first, before Bianca and Iris also gave their's.

"Will that be all?" the waitress asked.

"No, actually," Alder said. "I'd like to take my two da-" Alder paused, chuckling to himself, but then spoke again. "I'd like to take these two ladies onto the balcony. We require some privacy."

"Of course, sir," the waitress said.

"Nice of him to ask us if we wanted to be alone with him," Iris said to Bianca in a low voice..

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Bianca said back.

They followed Alder onto the balcony.

"Axew!" one Axew said as they saw the open room.

"Axew!" the other said. The two got close to the edge.

"Hey, wait, be careful!" Iris warned. She looked down and saw they were safe, then looked up. "Oh," she said. This was a pretty nice view of Icirrus City. The mountains looked beautiful, and despite several clouds in the sky, the sun was peeking through in the other direction. It was a pretty nice atmosphere, especially with the sound of running water nearby.

"You can sit right here," the waitress invited. As she finished seating them, she went to the other group of people seated out there, then bowed apologetically, saying something to them before they were ushered inside. The waitress herself then went inside, closing the screen door.

"Is there a reason you needed to talk to us alone?" Iris asked when the door had been completely shut.

"Yes," Alder said, sitting up in his chair. "Well, with Bianca, that is. I know you'd think it would be rude to leave you out, Iris. And also, it's appropriate for you to know about this as the new champion."

Iris's eyes opened in surprise. He seemed serious for a moment.

Alder turned to Bianca. "I'll just get to the point. Has Reshiram asked you to seek out Kyurem yet?" Alder said.

Bianca's expression turned bewildered. She wasn't sure what Alder was talking about, therefore wasn't sure how to respond.

"I guess not," Alder said, seeing Bianca's reaction. "I really hoped that it hadn't."

"Seek out what?" Iris said.

"Well, there's a third pokemon in the Reshiram and Zekrom legend. It's not as pretty, therefore it's not as well known," Alder explained.

"Reshiram and Zekrom nearly destroyed Unova with their battles... That's not really very pretty either," Bianca said.

"Right. Well, it's even less appealing than the worst interpretation of those two alone," Alder continued. "That pokemon's Kyurem. Reshiram talked about it right away when I met it."

"Wait! You never met Reshiram!" Iris said. "You weren't around when I met it, and I was the first, right?"

"I doubt it," Alder said, much to Iris's annoyance. "I met Reshiram before you, and there were likely others... Close to our encounters, I mean. Unlike you, Iris, I decided to keep quiet about it until I could confirm something."

"Oh? What's that?" Iris said.

Alder now was silent. It almost seemed like an awkward silence to Iris. She was surprised, he'd only ever been awkwardly loud. "Ah-" Alder finally began, then closed his mouth again. "Well, you see, I did planned to tell others about what had happened. But it seemed like a dream to me, after it was over... I wanted to make sure it was something that _really_ happened in the first place. When I went back to Dragonspiral Tower, Reshiram wasn't there. There was another way I could confirm it was real, though."

Iris raised an eyebrow as Alder finished speaking. He was rambling. She started to wonder if he's ever really seen Reshiram at all. Bianca kept a straight face first. "What happened when you first met Reshiram?" she asked.

"Oh! That's easy to tell!" Alder said. "You all remember that one group, Team Plasma?"

"No," Bianca said.

"Oh yeah," Iris said. "They were around before you set out as a trainer, Bianca. They were really, really weird, and sometimes stole pokemon. What ever happened to them?"

"Eh, well, that's another discussion, and for me it would be mostly speculation," Alder said. "But over two years ago, they were doing something strange over at Dragonspiral Tower. The mayor of Icirrus city asked me to go there and take a look at what was going on, and I was happy to help her. Once I got there, the whole Team Plasma group was defeated, retreating."

"Reshiram chased them away!" Iris said with glee. "Team Plasma was full of lies, so Reshiram set them straight, huh? Maybe that's why they disappeared."

"Well, that's also speculation. I'll tell you what Reshiram told me, though. It said Team Plasma released Zekrom before it, so Zekrom had a head start, and it needed to find a hero pretty fast, and asked me if I could help."

Iris looked down at the ground, recalling her encounter with Zekrom, who had said the same thing, more or less. She'd refused to even be tested to see if she was suitable.

"It gave me some kind of 'test' right there on the spot, and said I wouldn't fit the bill," Alder admitted. "But Reshiram also said it could tell I was strong, so I might be able to capture Kyurem. With Kyurem, I could help Reshiram out a different way, if it never found a hero. That would be a moot point for Reshiram now, wouldn't it?"

"Right," Iris said, nodding happily. She was proud for Bianca, that she'd been worthy when this cocky champion - now former champion - hadn't been.

"But that's why I wasn't around for the whole excitement, with both Reshiram and Zekrom revealing themselves to people left and right," Alder said. "I went looking for Kyurem."

"Oh, yeah," Iris muttered. She recalled that Alder had been absent for an extended period during those incidents. Drayden had been contacted a lot more often for stuff it might have been more appropriate to contact the champion about. But it hadn't been the first time Alder had gone 'missing', so Iris hadn't thought anything of it. Neither had most others.

"I found it," Alder said. "It took me a few months of searching, but considering it's been missing for over a thousand years, that's pretty good, isn't it?" Alder praised himself. Iris said nothing, but Bianca politely nodded. "Kyurem was in the first part of Unova that I'd guessed it would be."

"What is Kyurem, anyway? I guess I don't know much about it since I'm not from Unova," Iris said, looking at Bianca.

"It's also a dragon type... I don't really know much about it either though," Bianca said.

"Kyurem is nothing, really," Alder said.

"Then I guess you spent a few months looking for nothing!" Iris said.

Alder laughed. "That's right, Iris." Then he sighed. "I really do admire Reshiram and Zekrom, though. They've stayed alive for so long with nothing but pure will. I have a different take on them, you know? Reshiram represents the beautiful existence of the past, and Zekrom represents the new existence we hope to have in the future. Both are things to celebrate! And both are fought over in the 'now'."

"We were talking about Kyurem though," Iris pointed out.

"Right," Alder said. "Kyurem represents nonexistence. Like the cold emptiness of space, where nothing could stay alive. It's not only dragon type, but part ice type, you know. That became really obvious to me when I was searching for it."

Thinking of a powerful ice type, dragon type combo, Iris felt a chill go through her. "Why would Reshiram want you to get Kyurem, anyway?" she asked.

"Well, you see, Kyurem does have a connection to those two. In order to have the kind of existence they do now, Reshiram and Zekrom had to die. So Kyurem what remained of them after they died, becoming two different pokemon," Alder explained. "Reshiram thinks it can push back death and live again, I think."

Did he catch it? Bianca heard the question in her mind. She decided to ask it. "Did you catch it?" she said to Alder.

"No," Alder said firmly. "Bianca. If Reshiram asks you to approach Kyurem, you should refuse."

"Oh," Bianca said quietly. "Why?"

"It would be like Reshiram fighting against itself, huh?" Iris said. "Wait, it already does that with Zekrom though..."

"It's not that, Iris," Alder said. His default grin began to waver, and both girls could tell he was troubled. He forced a grin as he spoke to them again. "Well, it wouldn't be suitable for a girl like you, like it was suitable for me," he said.

"Hey!" Iris protested. "How do you know what kind of girl she is? You don't know Bianca that well at all. Reshiram does though. She was chosen by Reshiram itself!"

"Right, I understand that," Alder said with a chuckle. "But Bianca and myself are different, that's coming from Reshiram. He could see that Bianca was a person who was a full of life and the existence of 'now', I'm sure. So it saw that Bianca was a suitable trainer for itself. Reshiram looked at my heart, and saw an absolute hollowness. So I was unsuitable as a hero of truth, but suitable for a trainer of Kyurem."

There was another awkward silence. Iris pushed back her chair, looking for if the waitress might be back soon, her back to the lower setting sun. Looking back at Alder, Iris saw a blank expression. This guy hadn't ever been creepy in this way before. "What do you mean by that?" Iris finally asked.

"Ah, sorry," Alder said, putting back on the grin she was accustomed to. "When I was young, I was a lot like you, Iris. I was happy to a trainer, and just wanted to become stronger and stronger. I didn't become a champion so early like you, but I had accomplishment after accomplishment in my life. Maybe back then I might have been suitable for Reshiram or even Zekrom's trainer."

"Why not now?" Bianca asked.

"Well... You all know what happened to my first pokemon, didn't you?" Alder asked. Iris nodded, and Bianca did as well. "My partner faded into nothing, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. After that, everything I did started to seem hollow and meaningless. So I stopped doing them. I lost more. My wife, friends that I'd had for years all decided they'd had enough of me... My whole entire world was hollow nothingness, making me suitable for being a trainer of Kyurem."

"Alder..." Iris said sympathetically. She'd heard from Drayden before that Alder had gone through some rough times. But he'd never opened up like this before. She wasn't sure what to say to all that, really.

"Um... Alder?" Bianca began. As Alder looked her way from his downward gaze on the floor, she spoke again. "Well, I don't speak for Reshiram, but maybe it did just see you were a tough trainer, and ask you to capture Kyurem for that reason... It didn't say it was because you were... Well..." Bianca wasn't sure how to reword how Alder had described himself without sounding harsh.

"That's right, isn't it, Bianca?" Alder said, becoming energetic again. "Well, thanks for that. I didn't mean to make this about me, though. You will take my warning seriously, won't you?"

"Yes," Bianca said.

"Good, good," Alder said. "I'm sure you'll use your best judgment."

"Right," Bianca said.

"Look, here come our food already," Alder said happily.

Iris also looked happy to have the food arrive, as did her axew for their gourmet pokemon food. Bianca smiled, but looked a the ground. Where did he find it? Bianca looked around as the question entered her mind. That's right, he'd said it was the first place he'd thought Kyurem would be, but hadn't said where. As they ate, she decided to ask. "Alder, where did you find Kyurem, anyway?" she asked.

"Yeah... If you only had to look in one spot, what took you so long?" Iris asked.

"It was in that giant chasm north of Undella," Alder said, taking another bite of his meal.

"Oh yeah, I guess it would have taken a while to trudge around that place looking for something," Iris said.

Bianca nodded. With the former and current champions, she finished her meal.


	9. The Necessity of Truth

**9**  
**The Necessity of Truth**

After they finished eating, Bianca was disappointed to see that Iris was soon stolen away, and she herself had to go join Professor Juniper and her colleagues. By the time they were done, Bianca couldn't find Iris at all. Maybe she could message her and see where she was, Bianca considered. Sitting outside alone, she reached for her Xtransciever with the definite intention to message Iris, when something stopped her. Bianca looked up, and Reshiram appeared from its pokeball.

"Bianca. I need to go find Kyurem," Reshiram said.

"Oh," Bianca said in surprise. "Do you really need to?"

"Kyurem will be a valuable tool, perhaps imperative to our victory, if Zekrom chooses to fight us, which it likely will," Reshiram said.

Bianca was silent. Here Alder had told her that she absolutely shouldn't go after Kyurem, and now Reshiram was telling her that they absolutely needed to. Knowing so little about the pokemon, as well as both of their reasons for saying so, it was difficult for Bianca to make a decision on her own.

"Bianca, please listen. You knew I'd need your help, and this is the time."

"But Reshiram... You didn't really want to fight, did you?" Bianca pointed out.

"I can't always just choose the path I'd personally prefer. It's necessary to preserve the truth and eventual peace of this region. For that, I need Kyurem!" Reshiram said. It saw Bianca look away, and then became calm. "Alright, Bianca. You're my hero, so I shouldn't just expect you to blindly follow along with what I think is right. You have the right to the truth. I'll share with you the true story of Unova. After that, I know you'll understand why my course of action is vital."

Bianca nodded. With that, she found the world changing around her. She gave a shout in surprise, then was surprised again as things cleared, and she was in front of a large stone building. Then she shouted again, seeing an massive dragon type pokemon land in front of her. "Reshiram? What's this?"

"I apologize," Reshiram said calmly beside her. "This is just my memory. The pokemon in front of you is me, before I separated from Zekrom. I was a power hungry dragon then."

The dragon type that Reshiram once was roared, raising its hands into the sky. A woman in white robes stepped of a door in the building, yawning and looking calm for having such a large and aggressive pokemon in front of her. "Oh, it's you again," she said.

"Allow me to pass, human. With that, you can spare yourself pain and possibly death," the dragon type pokemon said, with Reshiram's typical telepathic speak.

"Right, right," the woman said. "Go on with your show of force, then."

The woman in robes stood by calmly as the dragon type roared again, this time slashing forward toward her. Bianca shouted and held her head, but the woman in the memory stood without even flinching. The unknown pokemon's attack stopped a few feet from her, hitting an invisible barrier. "Well, dragon," the calm woman began. "Can we end this here, or must you go through the entire invader routine?"

The dragon type pokemon appeared to stand down, leaning away and taking a step back from the building. Then it snarled, leaning forward again. "Priestess, you must have access to the entirety of Entralink, including the Entree. Aren't you ever tempted to use its power?"

A smile came to the woman's face, and she waved a finger at the pokemon. "Oh, dragon. Wouldn't you get bored, playing with the limitless treasure the Entree can provide?" As the pokemon didn't answer, the woman shook her head, still appearing amused. "Go somewhere else for your fun. We exist in this world as it is and that's that. That should be enough, shouldn't it?"

Reshiram's former form looked at the human priestess a moment long before turning and flying away. Reshiram turned to Bianca now. "That was the first time I considered 'truth'... I dreaded the boredom that she described."

"That woman... She was a priestess of... Entralink?" Bianca said, thinking of the island-like formation in the near-center of Unova.

"Yes. Entralink was much different back then. This is from a time before this Unova, you understand. Yes, she was a priestess, and she eventually became my original hero of truth as well."

"Oh!" Bianca said. "I didn't know your hero was a woman."

"Yes, that small bit of truth has been faded with time, along with the major tale of caution from my story."

"Is your story really a tale of caution?" Bianca said. She'd always considered it to be a mythical tale of how Unova began. "Well I guess it's a tale of caution toward war... It might encourage others to lean toward peace."

"Peace is preferable, but some things are worth fighting against, such as my own greedy nature, which now exists in Zekrom. I separated from it and went off peacefully with my hero, but Zekrom's nefarious intentions remained. Myself and my hero fought against Zekrom together, until I lost her."

"Oh... That must have been tough," Bianca said, frowning.

"Yes. I can truly relate to the 'emptiness' Alder described. Since I lost my original hero, I've also had to fight that emptiness, and it's been a constant struggle. Only my firm belief in the truth of matters has sustained me," Reshiram explained.

Bianca nodded sympathetically. "How did she die?" she asked.

"My former hero? She didn't," Reshiram said. Bianca's expression changed to a mixture of confusion and surprise. "It's certain she has by now, of course. But it was after I was sealed, and I wasn't there. I lost her because she left my side as the hero of truth and went to Zekrom's side as the hero of ideals!"

Bianca was again surprised. "But weren't the two heroes twins?" she said.

"That's more of the truth that has been skewed over the years. I chose her as my hero, my trainer, before I separated from Zekrom. Why would I chose two trainers, even if they were siblings? It was a serious thing, to chose a human hero, well, trainer back then."

"Oh. I guess a lot of the story has been changed," Bianca said.

"I don't even know the entire story. I know the part of the story where I happily chose her as my hero. I also know the part where I separated from Zekrom, and she chose me, the right and true. She was someone who could understand and believe the truth," Reshiram said. It had been speaking calmly, but then, it suddenly raised its armed up and snarled. "That's right, she chose me! Then why! Why did she reject me and chose Zekrom afterward?"

"I don't think I can answer that... Except to speculate," Bianca said.

"I have no need for speculation. I just want the truth," Reshiram said.

It must not ever get that, Bianca said. And if it did, it might not be a truth that Reshiram wanted to hear. Was it healthy to dwell on this?

"You're right," Reshiram said. "It's not the best idea to speculate, and it's also not good to continually wish for what I'll never receive. There's an undeniable truth that humans have a limited amount of time to live, and it's long past that for my former hero. I'll never get the answers I want from her, even if she were by some miracle now alive and willing to give them."

"Yeah," Bianca said quietly. This was all ancient history, but it seemed the history was still Reshiram's fresh wound.

"There's only one thing left for me to do. This is one thing my original hero would have me do, had she never been corrupted," Reshiram said. Bianca waited patiently for what Reshiram would say, and it continued. "Unova is a lie, as is its story of origin. I'll uncover the truth."

Bianca nodded. That was what Reshiram said it was going to do originally, wasn't it? It wanted to get this off its chest, the story of Unova as it had actually happened. She sat back and waited, then found herself taken back to one of Reshiram's memories, in the middle of a scary battlefield, with pokemon all around hitting at each other. It wasn't like the typical pokemon battles of today, they were really trying to kill each other. Realizing she was just an observer, Bianca didn't shout in surprise this time, just looked around for whatever it was Reshiram wanted her to see.

She saw it soon enough, as Reshiram flew onto the field. The various battling pokemon around scattered as it did. It approached a human, who turned around. Bianca could see it was the same woman as before, only instead of being dressed as a priestess, she wore some kind of armor. "My hero, what caused you to venture all the way over here? And dressed in such a contemptible way."

The hero gave a short laugh. "Contemptible? Reshiram, this is just practical for a battlefield." Zekrom flew in and landed beside the hero. It roared at Reshiram, and Reshiram just roared back. "Reshiram!" the hero said, trying to speak above both pokemon. They quieted down. "I have orders for you," the hero said, speaking directly to Reshiram. "Go traveling around this land, nearby Entralink. Go and tell everyone to leave it."

"Leave their homes, jobs, way of life? They won't leave just by asking!" Reshiram said.

"Then try and scare them away," the hero said. "Do whatever it takes! Humans and monsters alike must leave."

"You can't issue an edict like that! Almost as if you were a king, no, a god!" Reshiram shouted.

"We'll be something like that," the hero said, putting up her hands with a shrug and smiling. "I have the two of the most powerful pokemon in existence by my side, and extensive knowledge of Entralink. Yes, I'd say my ultimate goal is something like a god's might be."

"That's wrong!" Reshiram said.

"What's wrong about what I've said?" the hero asked. "Well, I'm not actually a god, but it doesn't matter. What can be done will be done."

"Hero, I thought you truly understood this! You can't be the hero for both Zekrom and myself! You can only be the hero for one of us."

"Fine, then I'm Zekrom's hero," the hero said casually, stunning Reshiram into silence. "The hero of ideals, was it?" she said, glancing toward the pokemon next to her.

"A much more befitting title for you, my hero," Zekrom said. She nodded, and Reshiram roared out in protest.

"You really hate for this, don't you, Reshiram," the hero said. "But understand I do have things to accomplish with Zekrom. And I won't let anyone get in my way before I do so. Not even you. Leave!" the hero shouted, shooing Reshiram away.

Bianca saw a flash of light, and heard a crash of thunder. It must be one of Zekrom's attacks, she concluded. But as she opened her eyes, she saw the whole world around her was white. Reshiram had ended that painful memory, and now sat in the blank expanse, looking downcast.

"Why... I don't know the truth as to why she betrayed me, as well as herself," Reshiram said. "How could she change from the tranquil priestess who accepted the world as it was to a warlord who raged against it, ready to destroy?"

Reshiram flew up, roaring out in pokemon language. Another memory was forming, showing a barren, dusty, smoky landscape, with Reshiram flying toward the stone building that it said was the former Entralink. "Well, my new hero, I even though I don't know why, I do know that her decision and ambitions were wrong!" Reshiram declared.

Bianca saw that the light there was very strange. Besides all the dust in the air, there was something wrong with the sun. She put a hand up, blocking the light, since she shouldn't look directly at it. Soon that was a moot point, as the sky went dark. Bianca saw Reshiram rushing past, and her consciousness was dragged along. She wasn't sure what was going on, then when she got to better perspective, she saw the land mass falling from the sky. It fell, pressing itself into the ground with an enormous amount of force. Bianca was stunned into silence watching it, and also seeing the destruction around her as it happened. After what seemed like a very long time, it settled. The scene left was a very peaceful one, with clear air and a green landscape.

Bianca looked up at Reshiram with some disbelief, waiting for an explanation. Reshiram's memory faded, and they were back in the present. "That's what happened. That's where the current Unova came from. Zekrom as its former hero simply destroyed and killed anything else that was in their way."

"You couldn't stop them?" Bianca asked.

"No," Reshiram said. "My hero's will wasn't with me. So of course, Zekrom won, with her support along with the power of Entralink which it still holds."

"Oh," Bianca said. She swallowed nervously, and clasped her hands together into fists.

"Don't fret or despair, my hero. Zekrom has its own hero in this time, and you're far superior to that criminal. I have faith in you, and I see an opportunity for us to protect this land. That's in Kyurem."

Bianca forced a smile to her face. Right... Kyurem. Reshiram wasn't here to play around. As it had been saying all this time, it had job, and needed to protect Unova. Reshiram was relying on her, and she wasn't going to let it down


	10. Giant Chasm

**10**  
**Giant Chasm**

Walking out of the restaurant, where Alder's talk and then a long phone conversation had kept her busy, Iris was pleased to see Bianca. Even though it was late, the sun having gone down already, there was Bianca, sitting alone in the near dark. What luck, Iris thought, running up to her. "Hey! Bianca!"

Bianca's expression was downcast and morose, but when she saw Iris, she looked up and gave a smile. "Oh, Iris. I thought you'd left."

"Nope, I was just busy," Iris said. "Sorry about before, with Alder... Even if I want to, I really can't be too rude to him, you know? Sorry he ruined your good time."

Bianca nodded. "It's alright. I found out something important. And I don't mind Alder, really. He's always reminded me of you."

Iris blinked rapidly, raised her eyebrows up high, and then took a step back. "Huh? I'm nothing like Alder! Even if he was a champion, I'm a total different kind of champion. Don't compare me to that guy!" As Iris finished, Bianca looked away, clutching the strap to her bag. Oops, Iris thought, maybe that reaction had been a little strong. "Um, I mean-"

"It was good to see you, Iris," Bianca said. "I'd better get going," she added, giving a polite smile again.

Though Bianca's demeanor was still pleasant, she felt distant this time to Iris. "Alright," Iris said, swallowing. She'd messed things up somehow with Bianca here, hadn't she? "Bye. I'll see you later," Iris said. Watching Bianca enter the building, Iris sighed to herself. They'd really been getting somewhere, but Alder's presence had ruined it.

Then again, there must be something else bothering Bianca. She'd said she didn't mind that Alder was there. Even so, Bianca had looked down when Iris seen her sitting alone just then. Iris frowned. She shouldn't have assumed she knew what it was, but talked to Bianca about that first. She really had messed up. Well, maybe Bianca wouldn't mind a phone call tomorrow, Iris thought, then walked off.

* * *

"She's gone," Jessie said, watching Iris going farther and farther away. "Good."

"I know I don't feel like being ganged up on," James said.

"Yeah, who else could be there?" Meowth said, looking at the building. "She's a professor's assistant, right? There'll just be some researcher types."

"Don't some of them have really powerful pokemon though?" James pointed out.

"Who cares. Now's as good a time as any. Let's go in and rechallenge that brat to a battle we're sure to win this time," Jessie said.

"Right," the other two said. Together, they walked to the door. Just as Jessie was about to open it, someone open it from the inside. "Oh," the waitress said as she noticed the group. "I'm sorry, but we've closed for the night."

"We don't care, we aren't here to eat," Jessie said, then began to walk in.

The waitress moved and stood in front of her still. "I really am sorry... There's no vacancies at the moment, either."

"Just get out of our way!" Jessie ordered. "I have to meet a little girl for a battle. She just walked in."

"Hm. We were told to look out for people like you by one group," the waitress said. "Since you won't leave, I'll have to call the police." She relaxed, then looked at the Xtransciever on her wrist.

"What are you lunkheads waiting for," Meowth said. "Stop her!"

Jessie and James both lunged to stop her from making the call. The waitress moved out of their way, then reached into her pocket. "Go, Samurott!" she yelled, throwing out a pokeball. The large water type appeared between her and the rockets. "I'll defend myself before the police even get here," the waitress spoke while messing with her watch.

"What's going on?" another voice came from inside.

"Do you need help there?" someone else asked.

"Um," Jessie said as she saw another group of people, looking around the pokemon.

"Maybe we should go," Meowth suggested.

"It looks like we're getting ganged up on after all," James said.

"Hmm," Jessie frowned. "Let's go. It's not worth it right now. This battle will have to wait."

The group turned and left, leaving the commotion behind them. They walked quickly, and no one followed them. Seeing that was so, the group slowed their pace. Meowth sighed. "We'll just have to follow her and see when you can ambush her," it said.

"Yeah. This battle might have been postponed, but it's inevitable, isn't it?" Jessie said.

"Right," James said. He shivered as the wind blew by. "I guess we should find somewhere to stay," he said. "It is pretty cold here."

"Yeah, with the whole city looking for us," Jessie said.

"It was just that one group," Meowth said, waving a paw dismissively.

"We still need to save our money. We'll just camp out," Jessie said.

"True," Meowth said. "I bet where we left our balloon would be a nice spot."

"You go ahead and check, Meowth," James said. Meowth ran ahead, and he reached for Jessie. "Um... Jessie... You know there's an extra tent." His face turned red. "I mean, if, um... you wanted to be alone."

"With you, you mean?" Jessie said.

"Ah-" James said. He was still blushing, realizing it could be taken in two different contexts. That had been what he'd meant though. It had been direct, now he had to directly confirm it. "Yes," he said.

"I guess you were planning to get 'romantic' with me, then," Jessie said.

"Well... Only if you'd like to," James said shyly.

"Hmph. Well, it does sound nice. And it is cold," Jessie said. With that, James's expression brightened, though he still had that embarrassed blush. "But I want you to cut it out with all of that," she said.

James backed away. "Jessie, I didn't mean... I well, I-"

"Listen James. I know you don't want to have sex," Jessie said.

"Well... I don't think it's that terrible. I mean, I can do it," James said. "Right?"

"Why are you asking me that?" Jessie said. "You obviously have issues with this. You don't really want to, do you?"

"I just want to because you do," James said.

"Exactly," Jessie said. "It's really weird, James. Creepy, even. You think I'm going to like some guy 'sacrificing' himself to sleep with me? No way."

"It's not like that, Jessie!" James insisted.

"It is," Jessie said. "And it's pathetic. I won't have anything to do with your sacrifice. So stop teasing me with your little shows of affection."

James stopped talking, feeling sick to his stomach. How could he respond to that? He did get the courage to speak his mind though, even knowing the response might not be what he wanted. "I'm not thinking of anything as a terrible sacrifice... I love you!"

"Oh? So it's not the worst thing in the world. Yeah, that's pretty sexy," Jessie said dryly. "But just look out for yourself, James. If it's large or small, don't sacrifice yourself for me, because there's no way I'd do the same," Jessie said. A silence followed. She looked away and sighed. "You know, I think I wouldn't mind being alone tonight."

With that, there really was nothing left for James to say. He followed her wordlessly.

* * *

Bianca put her hand over the top of her zipper. Her coat was already zipped up all the way. She had an extra sweater in her bag, but maybe she should wear that under the jacket, and didn't feel like taking it off to put the jacket on. Instead, she reached into her bag for something else. Because she was wearing mittens, so she struggled to get a good grip on it before she threw it out. "Go, Emboar," she said. Emboar appeared right next to her, and Bianca fell backward.

"Emboar?" Emboar said with some concern, stepping away.

"Oh, that's nice, Emboar," Bianca said with a sigh as she sat back up. "It's really cold here. Maybe Chandelure would be nice to have around too." She threw out its pokeball. "Go, Chandelure!" As it came out, Bianca pointed to either side of her. "Emboar, over here. Chandelure, over here." Bianca sighed happily as they both followed her directions. She could still feel the cold around her, but the heat from her fire-type pokemon negated that somewhat in a tiny space near her.

Now she could better concentrate on what she should have been in the first place. Bianca looked around at the tall, healthy evergreens around her. She could hear the sounds of pokemon nearby, though she didn't see any other than her own at the moment. It just seemed like a peaceful morning. No, it didn't really seem like Kyurem was hiding nearby. It just seemed like she was wandering around an isolated area which was colder than usual.

Looking in-between the trees for some kind of hint, Bianca saw more of the same, the peaceful forest, except maybe the trees were possibly even more dense. Seeing some other kind of plant, a weird looking mess of vines, Bianca reached over to touch it. She was surprised that one of the vines reached up and touched her. Bianca shouted in surprise and backed away.

The plant looked over at her, its eyes appearing in the middle somehow. It gave a groan, perhaps a loud yawn, and then swung its vines toward her. "Chandelure, overheat!" Bianca ordered quickly.

Quickly and calmly, Chandelure used the attack at the plant. It gave a cry in response and began retreating. Bianca held up a hand. "That's enough," she said to Chandelure. That moving plant was definitely a pokemon, Bianca knew now. It was a tangela, or maybe a tangrowth. She'd have to spend the time with her pokedex later looked up the differences. Professor Juniper may also be curious about the species appearing here in Unova. It had surprised her, but it still seemed like a very interesting species of pokemon.

But she wasn't really here for her fun research purposes, was she, Bianca realized, her excitement and enthusiasm dying now. No, she was here to capture Kyurem for Reshiram. If she didn't, there might be dire consequences, for everyone in the region, including all of those she loved. She'd have to find Kyurem, so she could be sure to catch it.

But she didn't have a clue. Bianca kept walking around the forest, still without seeing anything that might help her, fretting about that instead of being excitement about the various pokemon she saw. Reaching a small pool of water, Bianca looked inside. It was only partially frozen. "Do either of you want a drink?" she asked. Neither of her current two pokemon wanted to go to close to it, which made sense since they were both fire types and all. "I'll just fill these up on my own," Bianca said. She'd have to take off her mittens, possibly touch the certainly ice cold water, but if she didn't want to do that, it would be kind of mean to ask her pokemon to do it instead.

Reaching down with her water bottle, Bianca heard a roar. She looked up, then around, and couldn't see anything that might have been the source, even out there in the distance. Turning to her pokemon, she saw they appeared similarly concerned. There was that roar again. Bianca shivered, then looked down at the small pool. Well... she didn't have too worry about getting her hands cold from the water anymore. That small area was completely frozen over.

Bianca stood up, and looked at the evergreen nearest her. Was it her imagination, or was it different than before? It was covered in frost, maybe even turning brown. Bianca swallowed nervously. Well, it was different from the trees she'd been seeing anyway. Looking forward, Bianca saw that the trees were starting to look sicker and sicker in a certain direction, a few of them even having fallen over. Maybe this was a good clue for where to start. In any case, it was something, which was more than she'd had so far.

"Let's go," Bianca said to her two pokemon. Despite their fiery presence beside her as she walked forward, it was really far too cold. She couldn't even hear any wild pokemon nearby, as she had been since arriving here. Kyurem represented nothingness, Alder had said. Well the surroundings were starting to resemble that more and more as she walked on, the trees becoming dead until she reached an area where there were none. Then she could see a sparse, rocky mountain in front of her. It looked like there was an entrance for a cave nearby.

Was Kyurem there? Was that pokemon really what was making the nearby area so cold? Would it be even worse inside? Alder, the former champion, even seemed a little intimidated by Kyurem's existence. Bianca should be even more so, shouldn't she?

But Reshiram had told her that going here was absolutely necessary. That it was the only way they could possibly hope to match the dangerous power that Zekrom held. So Bianca kept walking forward, with the intent to enter the cave.

* * *

"What's this brat thinking?" Jessie demanded, shivering. "There's nothing nearby here. Nothing! It's just a cold wasteland."

"I think I saw her that way, Jessie," James said, pointing as he looked out into the evergreen forest with binoculars.

"Who cares. Maybe we should just go back. We can battle her at any time, right? Is it worth dealing with all of this?" Jessie asked. It seemed to get colder and colder the more they walked around this place, and it was so maze like, making finding her for the battle that Jessie and Zekrom wanted so difficult.

"Hey, going here makes it easier for us," Meowth pointed out, though it shivered as well. "She just brought herself in an isolated area with none of her pals around her at all. This is our chance, so stop complaining!"

"I know," Jessie said. She hadn't really meant to turn back, just wanted to complain. There was no way she could turn back anyway, not with the fact that Meowth had pointed out, and not with James and Meowth both working just as hard as her to find this brat, and with less complaining. At least at the moment. "Are you sure you saw her, James?" Jessie asked.

"Yes. Over there," James said. "I'm sure I did, somewhere around there."

"Good. Let's keep looking, then," Jessie said. They did, and eventually Meowth gave a shout, pointing. "Over there! She's right over there!"

Jessie and James both looked, and found her with her own binoculars. They both grinned. "Alright," Jessie began. "We're not going to lose track of her today. Hurry up, let's go find her!"

"Right!" James and Meowth agreed. They walk, then ran forward in the forest.

"We can catch up to her," Jessie said, mostly trying to convince herself. "She has to stop and rest sometime, right? None of you stop!"

"We've got it, Jessie," Meowth said. "You know, maybe we could go back and get the balloon to find her."

"We'd only need to do that if we failed, and we're not going to fail," Jessie declared. "Now move it."

They went off in the general direction that Bianca had been. They'd have to stop eventually to get a visual fix on her, Jessie knew, but for now, they just had to worry about catching up. They eventually stopped, climbed a tree, and looked out into the forest for Bianca again. Jessie was the one who spotted her this time. "That way!" Jessie shouted with some excitement. It wasn't that far this time. They'd soon catch up, then have the Zekrom Vs. Reshiram battled they hoped for.

The rockets wasted no time in jumping down from the tree. As they were about to start running toward their destination, a girl jumped in front of them. It was easy enough to recognize her, even though it had been a few years since they'd seen each other. Iris smiled the smile that Jessie had found creepy before, though now she thought it was a little cocky. The rockets all became tense. The newcomer folded her arms and stared them down. "Well, what could you all be doing out here in the middle of nowhere?" Iris asked.

"What about you, twerp!" Jessie accused. "Don't you have some fancy title now?"

"That's right, she's the champion," Meowth said. "This doesn't look like a place for a champion."

"Champions do lots of stuff," Iris said with a shrug. "Right now I'm here for Bianca."

"That other brat? So are we," Jessie admitted. "We're going to catch up with her and ambush her, and finally have our final showdown! Do you want to watch? You'd better not interfere."

"Can't promise that," Iris said. "If you were attacking my beloved Bianca, I'd do anything to help her. Especially with a serious battle like this. I'd do anything to protect her!"

"What a coincidence! We'd also do anything to win," Jessie said. "So twerp, with your fancy title, do you really think you could stand up to Zekrom itself?"

"Maybe, maybe not," Iris admitted. "They're powerful pokemon, but there's been nothing to compare their power to except against each other, as far as I know. Bianca's never battled anyone with Reshiram."

"I battled Reshiram. It beat me pretty quickly," James recalled.

"Well, that's to be expected when it's one of your group, isn't it?" Iris said with a shrug.

"Hey!" the rockets all said at once.

"Don't get so full of yourself, now," Jessie said. "It'll be better if I beat you right now before I go get that brat and Reshiram, won't it?" she said, taking out her pokeball.

"You'll win easily, Jessie," James said.

"Yeah, show her how much her discount champion title is worth," Meowth said.

"Go, Zekrom!" Jessie shouted. She threw her pokeball, and Zekrom appeared in the open. As it did, they heard a roar in the distance.

"What's that?" Meowth asked.

"Is it Reshiram?" James asked.

"Who cares," Jessie said. "Zekrom, you teach this brat what for," Jessie ordered.

Another roar echoed through the area, and a cold wind blew through. Jessie tried to ignore it, but it really was awful. She shivered. "Hurry up, Zekrom!" she shouted. "Use one of your electric attacks on her or something."

"We don't have time for that now," Zekrom said.

"Huh? What are you saying to me?" Jessie demanded.

"Iris, why did the new hero of truth come over here?" Zekrom asked.

"Hey! Don't talk to her like you're friends!" Jessie said.

"Um," Iris began. "She didn't really tell me, or anyone. But I think it was probably to try and find Kyurem. I don't really know why, though."

"Jessie! We have to hurry! Reshiram could become extremely dangerous with the power of Kyurem," Zekrom said.

"So that's why we should beat her up first, right?" Jessie said, pointing at Iris. "Even if you think this brat's your friend, she's not on our side, you know."

"That doesn't matter," Zekrom declared. "Kyurem has a power that could allow our existence again, even outside Unova. Besides that, it would greatly increase our powers. If Reshiram gains that power, we've already lost."

"What's that?" James said.

"Let's hurry up and get going, then!" Meowth said.

"Right," Jessie said. Zekrom's 'true' existence outside Unova was very valuable to them, anyway. They should get to Kyurem first, or stop Bianca from stealing what was theirs at least.

As the rockets were ready to run, they found Iris blocking their way. "You might have decided not to fight me, but I still want to stop you." Iris threw out two pokeballs, and Haxorus and Hydreigon appeared.

"Move, brat!" Jessie shouted.

"I don't think it would be in your best interest to battle me, Iris," Zekrom said.

"Do you really think you can win?" Meowth said.

"Maybe not," Iris said. Then she shrugged. "But I'd hate myself for not trying to. Haxorus, Hydreigon, don't let them pass!" Iris ordered. Her two present pokemon stood in front of Jessie and James, who both backed away along with Meowth.

"Fine then," Jessie said. "Zekrom, hurry up! Use that really powerful attack. Scare this overpowered brat back to her mommy and daddy."

Zekrom had no more need for words, and appeared to follow Jessie's instructions. The area around them became silent as it began to gather a concentrated electricity in front of it. "Haxorus, dragon dance! Hydreigon, dragon pulse!" Iris shouted.

Hydreigon and Zekrom both hit each other with their attacks at the same time, Hydreigon covering Haxorus. Zekrom roared in pair, and Hydreigon fainted, falling to the ground in a crash. Iris had to move out of the way, and returned it to its pokeball quickly. "Haxorus, dual chop!" Iris shouted.

"Zekrom, don't let her land a hit!" Jessie ordered.

Haxorus did land a hit, leaping up and striking Zekrom once. As it went for the second hit, Zekrom roared and sent out a stream of energy in its dragon breath attack. Haxorus fell backward, then stood up. "Again, Haxorus!" Iris yelled. Haxorus leapt up again as Zekrom was glowing blue, again gathering that electric energy for its attack. Before Haxorus could it the second time, the bolt crashed from the sky, and Haxorus fell to the ground.

Iris clenched her jaw, and returned her pokemon silently. "Not bad, Iris," Zekrom complimented. "Even in my other life, I'd gotten so powerful that no pokemon could touch me, until Reshiram split from me."

"Satisfied, brat?" Jessie said. James and Meowth both walked forward, ready to pass by her.

"Not at all," Iris said. "You didn't think a champion would travel with just two pokemon, did you?" Iris took out all four of her remaining pokeballs this time.

"A waste of time," Jessie said, but still got ready to battle.


	11. White Kyurem

**11**  
**White Kyurem**

As Bianca entered the cave, she did finally take a moment to stop, take off her jacket, and put on the saved sweater. She only felt slightly warmer though, and that feeling disappeared as she walked forward into the dark cave. "Chandelure, try your flashy move," Bianca said.

"Chande," the pokemon confirmed it had heard the moment, and then brought forth the ball of light, brightening the area around them. Bianca felt slightly better, even if it hadn't been completely dark in the first place.

"I wonder if Kyurem is really here," she said to herself.

"There's no need to wonder," Reshiram said to her in her mind.

"Reshiram," Bianca said, looking around. It was still in its pokeball, of course. "Would you like to come out?" she asked.

"Yes," Reshiram said.

Bianca took a look around. Yes, this cave seemed large around to accommodate it, at least at the point they stood now. She threw out the pokeball, and Reshiram appeared.

Reshiram now was the one to turn its head, carefully studying the surrounding area. "One cave looks just like the other, and things may have changed over this long amount of time, but this could likely be where it happened."

"What's that?" Bianca asked.

"Where I finally separated from my other side," Reshiram said. With that, the surroundings faded into one of Reshiram's memories. Bianca looked around. It did look similar to the cave where they actually were, Bianca concluded, though it was hard to tell. She saw Reshiram's hero there, as well as Reshiram's former self. The hero, in her priestess robes, now heavily soiled, leaned against the cave wall, her eyes closed, her hands clutching a sword.

"It's become difficult to travel with me, hasn't it, hero?" Reshiram's former self said.

"Not too much," the hero said, opening her eyes. "I won't complain about having a monster that can out power all the rest on my side."

"Knowing I don't need you to defend myself, why do you still stand by me? You can abandon me at any time, can't you?"

"Hm?" the hero said. She pulled herself to her feet, and looked to the cave entrance, squinting to see in the fading daylight. "I physically could walk away, and tell you not to approach me or Entralink again, and you'd probably listen, wouldn't you?" the hero said.

"Yes," the former version of Reshiram said. Both Bianca and Reshiram's original hero noticed the hesitation in its voice.

"I physically can, but I won't," the hero said. "My heart wouldn't let me do something so terrible, even if it would make things easier for me, personally. You're my companion! I'll never abandon you."

"My hero," Reshiram's former self said, feeling confidence and happiness in its own heart.

"Right," the hero said, sighing with exhaustion. "Everyone will just have to deal with Entralink's former priestess being a hero for the region's most powerful monster."

"Do you think we can convince them that your resignation truly is a peaceful one?"

The hero laughed. "Not without a big fight," she said. "They're so afraid that I'll use my knowledge to activate Entralink's powers... And you know, maybe they have good reason to be."

"Hero?" Reshiram's former self said.

The former priestess raised her sword in the air. "I never thought much about anything outside my job and Entralink. But this place really is detestable, isn't it?"

"That's quite the change from your original conviction. The world hasn't changed that much since then," Reshiram's former self said.

"You're right. It's not the world that's changed, but my perspective. Everything was fine for me, but for most, the world's fairly bad. We might be the only two with the power to change that, and quickly. What do you think? Should we?" the hero asked.

The former hero looked up into the former Reshiram's eyes. Both of them were deeply considering the question. The hero finally smiled, laughing half-heartedly to lighten the mood. "Sorry. I suppose it's selfish to think like that.

"Hero. You didn't wait for my thoughts," Reshiram's former self said.

"Hm? Go ahead then," the hero said, casually sitting on a rock as she threw her sword to the side. "I didn't mean to stop you if you wanted to speak. I know how I feel, but we can discuss it." The former hero had been looking at the ground, but then looked up at her pokemon friend. It seemed to be glowing. "Hey? What's wrong?" she said.

The monster that Reshiram once was began to let out a low roar, as if it were in pain. It swung its arm toward the wall, roaring again.

The hero stood up, running up to the pokemon. "Hey! Calm down!" she said. "Should we-"

The glow brightened further. The former hero fell to the floor, and the brightness enveloped the entire cave. When she opened her eyes, she was confused to see two pokemon above what she was certain was her friend. "Hey!" the hero said. She grabbed her sword and ran toward her friend. She swung it at the two pokemon that were unknown to her. "Get away!" The former hero looked down with horror. "What's happened to you?" she said to the carcass. It looked dead. The former hero let out a loud shout of pain, then ran toward the unknown pokemon, swinging her sword at them.

"Don't despair, my hero," the newly formed Zekrom said. "That's just my former self. I've evolved."

"I've heard of evolving, but never of a monster that evolves like this," the former hero said dryly. She glanced toward the newly formed Reshiram. "And who are you?"

"It's me, my hero," Reshiram said. "Your words ignited my greed. Be careful of that being over there. It contains every bit of my greed, every part of me that can't be trusted."

"Really?" the hero said, looked from Zekrom to Reshiram.

"Don't listen to that one! Your words ignited my cowardice and fear!" Zekrom said. "Let's abandon that terrible part of myself. Now I'm truly worthy of having you as my hero. Let's go, and use Entralink to change the world."

"Cowardice? It's accepting what I must that makes me truly brave! I'm no coward!" Reshiram accused its other half.

"And you accuse me of greed!" Zekrom snarled. "I'm only thinking of my hero's wishes. She selflessly wants to change the world to improve it for others, not only herself."

"Wait!" the hero shouted. "I only wanted to discuss my temptation. Everyone has it. But I also know that the power of Entralink must not be used again. Even if I abandoned my duties, I still know that much."

"My hero-" Zekrom began.

"Get away!" Reshiram said. "My hero accepts the world as it is, and always has!"

"Right," the former hero said. She raised an eyebrow. "Everyone has a darker side of themselves. Not everyone can separate themselves from that side just like that. You really are an interesting monster."

"Should I attack it, then?" Reshiram said.

"Go ahead," the hero said, waving an arm forward toward Zekrom as she took her place by Reshiram's side.

The Reshiram of memory roared, ready for a battle, before the memory faded. Bianca took a moment to blink. The light of the present was much brighter. She turned to Reshiram. The former hero was as torn as the pokemon itself, but unlike the pokemon, couldn't separate herself from her own differing values. Bianca didn't feel the need to say it aloud, but she knew Reshiram could read her mind, and knew her assessment. It looked almost angry at Bianca for having thought it, its piercing gaze boring through her.

Bianca just smiled, and decided to move her thoughts on to something else. "That, um, thing that was left, was it Kyurem?" she asked.

"Yes," Reshiram confirmed.

"Is Kyurem alive, or is it just... Um... Well, a remnant?" Bianca asked.

"I don't know," Reshiram said. I battled Zekrom soon after the time I just shared with you. Then my time continued to be occupied by that continued struggle. "From the humans whose hearts I've been able to read since that time, Kyurem is alive and very frightening."

"I've heard that too," Bianca said, though Reshiram likely knew. "Um, well, in that town nearby, they're even afraid that Kyurem will eat them."

"It might make a frightening statue. Or it could be alive on its own," Reshiram considered. "Either way, don't worry. I will protect you. However, your help will be imperative here."

Bianca nodded seriously. Her two pokemon behind her mirrored that. "What do I do?" Bianca asked.

"Right... It's not that complicated," Reshiram began. "Well, first understand that Zekrom and I haven't truly 'existed' since we separated."

"But of course you do," Bianca said. "You're right in front of me... Aren't you?" Bianca turned to her pokemon. Both Emboar and Chandelure nodded. They could see Reshiram.

"I'm only an illusion," Reshiram admitted. "It's fueled by the munna's dream mist, the beliefs of the people of Unova, my former hero's strong heart, as well as your's now. Zekrom's existence is the same, though I doubt it was able to 'exist' very well when its hero left Unova."

Bianca nodded, looking down as she took it all in. "I see," she said. "It's a good thing I never had you battle, then."

"If you had, I would have powerfully defeated any opponent!" Reshiram boasted. "However, even with the ability to win in a battle, my existence is no better than smoke and mirrors. But with Kyurem, be it a statue or heartless puppet, I can truly exist again."

"H-Heartless?" Bianca repeated, recalling the horrible descriptions of Kyurem.

"Yes. Kyurem has no heart. I don't have a whole heart myself. My heart was ripped in two when I separated from Zekrom. In order to exist again, I need one. Will you put your whole heart into helping me protect this region?"

Bianca put her hand to where her physical heart was, though she knew Reshiram wasn't referring to that physical part of her, but something else, which was just as important. She nodded. "I'll do anything I can."

"Good," Reshiram said.

"Let's go see if Kyurem is even around then," Bianca said. Though she was nervous, she began to walk again, further and further into the cave as the light dimmed again. Eventually, they came to a spot where it would be impossible for Reshiram to go through, or even Emboar to fit comfortably. Bianca returned them to their pokeballs. Then when the cave began to open up again, she released them both again.

"Let's see," Bianca said, peering around as she moved her flashlight. Then she saw a flash of a frightening face. "Ah-" She said, feeling afraid a moment as she saw Kyurem's face. Even feeling like she just wanted to freeze there in place, Bianca took a step forward. Kyurem didn't move. It really was a statue, Bianca realized, though an extremely unsettling one. "Reshiram, it's-"

Bianca suddenly did freeze there in place as Kyurem's head turned, looking directly at her as she spoke. It let out a terrible hissing sound resembling a roar. Bianca shouted in surprise, and Reshiram released itself from its pokeball and jumped in front of her. It began firing up its attack.

It was alright, Bianca told herself, though the panic response only faded slightly. Reshiram was here. It was going to use Kyurem to exist again. Bianca wasn't sure how that would work, but it would be accomplished. Reshiram would tell her exactly what she needed to do, if anything. Then they could protect Unova from anything.

As Bianca thought this, Reshiram unleashed its legendary blue flame attack. Kyurem appeared to absorb it rather than take damage, but Bianca didn't fret. She saw Reshiram begin to glow. There was a flash of light, and a new pokemon appeared, different than even Reshiram's former form. Of course, Bianca realized, it wouldn't look the same without Zekrom there. It did look like Kyurem, and Bianca studied it closely, wondering if that 'heartless puppet' had taken over.

"No worries, Bianca," the new pokemon spoke. "Though I'm 'White Kyurem' now, I'm still the same pokemon you remember."

Bianca nodded happily. They'd been successful in what they'd come here to do. Now they could be sure to protect Unova, couldn't they.

* * *

Iris shook her head with frustration, returning her last pokemon. She'd done some damage to Zekrom, but it still looked pretty energetic, didn't it? "Were pokemon that powerful a thousand years ago?" she said.

"No. I recall meeting few pokemon even as powerful as your's. That was my original selfish wish for this region, you know? To fill it with worthy adversaries," Zekrom said.

"How nice. But forget about it now! Let's move," Jessie said.

Iris stepped out of the way of the rockets as they ran forward on the path. Her pokemon had fainted, and now she was no match for two grown adults. They wouldn't protest if she followed them though, would they? No, they didn't even seem to notice as she ran behind them.

"Do you think she went in there?" James asked, pointing to the cave entrance.

"Do you see much else around here?" Meowth asked, motioning toward the barren frosted over rock around them.

"Let's go see then," Jessie said. She returned Zekrom to its pokeball as they went inside. With Iris right behind them, the rockets rushed around, before finding the narrow area where Bianca had gone. Inside, White Kyurem was there, and turned around to face them.

"Go, Zekrom," Jessie shouted immediately, throwing out Zekrom's pokeball again.

"It's already too late," Zekrom said.

"What do you mean, 'too late'?" Jessie demanded. "You're the pokemon of ideals, saying nonsense like this. Aren't you ashamed! Go, get Reshiram! Even if it's some super powered version, we'll definitely win!"

"That's right, you can do it!" James encouraged.

"We're not gonna lose now!" Meowth said.

"Fool. Can't you see that now as White Kyurem, my power far exceeds your own?" White Kyurem said.

"Is that so? We'll just have to see. Zekrom! Kill it with that one attack," Jessie said.

Zekrom got ready to use an electric attack. As the area in front of it started to glow, White Kyurem let out a roar. Both pokemon unleashed an attack at the same time. Zekrom roared out in pain as the ice type attack hit it, and White Kyurem lifted its head up, roaring in protest at the fusion bolt's hit.

"Don't take that sitting down, Zekrom. Get ready for your next attack!" Jessie ordered.

"Don't you want to take this outside," Iris said, standing behind the rockets. They completely ignored her, she noticed crossly. Bianca would definitely listen to her though. "Bianca, hurry up, return Reshiram! These two could cause a cave in." Iris looked around. "Bianca?" she called. She'd definitely seen Bianca when she'd walked in, standing by her Chandelure which emitted that bright flash of light. Iris looked toward where that had been. She gasped when she saw the sight. "Bianca!" she called.

As Zekrom and White Kyurem attacked one another again, Iris ran over to where Bianca lay crumpled on the floor, her emboar and her chandelure leaning over her. When Iris reached her, she took Bianca into her arms. Iris then realized that Bianca was okay, though she lay there panting for breath, staring at the ceiling, her eyes blank.

"Bianca, what happened?" Iris asked. There was no sign that Bianca had been hit by a pokemon attack or anything.

Bianca took in a deep breath, then weakly held Iris's hand. "Thanks, Iris," she said. "I'm... helping Reshiram."

There was a crash as another of Zekrom's electric attacks hit White Kyurem. Iris turned around, seeing that White Kyurem's ice type attack had begun to coat the side of the cave, including part of their exit. "Cut it out!" Iris yelled. "Can't you see what's happening to Bianca?"

"Does she surrender, then?" Jessie yelled back.

"Of course she does! She can't fight like this!" Iris said.

"No," Bianca said faintly, pushing Iris away and sitting up. "I don't surrender," she said.

"Fine. Zekrom, keep it up. Those two are growing weaker," Jessie ordered.

Zekrom blew its dragon breath attack toward White Kyurem. White Kyurem avoided the attack, and again shot its ice type attack toward Zekrom, making it colder in there still. "We're stronger," Bianca said with a smile. "We're going to win," she added in such a faint voice that only Iris right next to her heard. Then she fell backward again as the battle continued.

"Bianca!" Iris yelled. She moved closer to Bianca again. She could no longer feel her breath. "Bianca! There's something wrong with you! Forget about this stupid fight, you can do it later!"

"It's a side effect," White Kyurem said as it got another attack ready. "Bianca has to lend her entire heart so that I can maintain this form."

So that was why neither White Kyurem nor Bianca were doing anything about Bianca's current state, Iris realized. Bianca was only faintly breathing now. As White Kyurem began yet another attack, Iris saw Bianca's chest stop moving, her face turning blue. "Bianca!" Iris yelled. "White Kyurem, stop this!" Iris shouted. "Bianca could die, do you know that?"

"She knew it well enough when she offered me her help today," White Kyurem said. "If she dies, the power of her spirit will live on in my form of White Kyurem, and I'll be able to complete my goal after defeating Zekrom."

"No!" Iris shrieked, beginning to cry. She hugged Bianca close. "Why! What's worth all this! Bianca, you can stop it, right? Stop it, then! Stay alive!"

Bianca had started to breath again, though slowly. "It's okay, Iris," she said. "I have to protect Unova... And everyone."

"You don't need to do that," Iris said. "We'll figure out some other way."

Bianca couldn't muster the energy to respond, but did manage to bring that peaceful smile to her face. Then it became faint, and Bianca closed her eyes.

Zekrom fell to the ground, definitely starting to feel the strain from taking the continually ice type attacks from White Kyurem. "It's not looking good," Meowth commented.

"That crazy kid," Jessie muttered, shaking her head as she looked over at Bianca. "Is she really going to die just for this?"

Zekrom roared, looking up at White Kyurem. "With me gone, you'll get control of Entralink, won't you," Zekrom said.

"Yes," White Kyurem responded. "When I do, I'll unearth your atrocities from long ago. I'll show the world the danger of associating with one such as you."

"So, you'll destroy the region our hero sacrificed and fought for?" Zekrom said.

"If I must! Perhaps it's the only way to finally have it acknowledged that my hero made the wrong choice, abandoning me for you! And by erasing the lies, I'll protect this region from further destruction," White Kyurem hissed, then began another attack, getting ready to strike Zekrom with the final blow.

Bianca's eyes shot open. "Bianca?" Iris said.

"White Kyurem," Bianca said, sitting up in Iris's arms. She sat up with Iris's help, looking desperately toward the battle. "Stop!"

White Kyurem looked forward, desperately wanting to attack Zekrom. It roared unhappily, then turned to Bianca. "You understand, don't you? I'm finally about to achieve our goal."

"The way you mentioned... Destroying Unova," Bianca began calmly, shaking her head. "Even if people should know the truth about what happened, that's not the way to do it."

White Kyurem stopped, then separated into two beings again, Reshiram standing tall, Kyurem sprawled on the ground. "Very well," Reshiram said. "Even if I have my own goal, as well as the spirit of my uncorrupted hero still alive in my heart, I must go with the will of my current hero."

Bianca, still weak, sighed in relief. She looked at the disabled form of Zekrom, her two pokemon, and Iris's relieved, though tear-stained face. "Don't worry, Reshiram," Bianca said. "I'll still figure out a way to get people to know your truth."

"Thank you," Reshiram said, now speaking directly to Bianca and Bianca only. Bianca stood up, returning Reshiram to its pokeball. "Let's go," she said to her pokemon and Iris. Walking past their defeated foe, they went to their exit out of the cave.


	12. Resume

**12**  
**Resume**

Jessie took a look at the pokeball with the 'R' insignia as they crossed the drawbridge, headed for Nimbasa City. "Jessie, do you see something over there... Jessie?" James said, looking over at her with some concern.

"Are you thinking we should just take this pokemon and get out of this place?" Meowth said. "I mean, yeah, we might get a lot done with both of these things on our side, but maybe we should just make do with what we have."

Jessie looked closer at the specialized pokeball, scrutinizing it. Then she threw out a different pokeball, releasing Zekrom. "Hey, Zekrom," she said. "Can this part of you really exist? Outside Unova, I mean?"

"I can only assume it will in theory. Merging with Kyurem would be the way I'd be able to exist again, after all."

"Well, aren't you a sneaky one," Jessie said. "You bring us back here with promises like that, but we saw what happened to the 'hero' Reshiram chose. Wouldn't the same thing happen to me?"

"Yes, we'd have to use that exact same method to merge myself with Kyurem so I could exist again as Black Kyurem," Zekrom said.

"Then what would happen to Jessie?" Meowth asked. "Things looked pretty bad for that one girl, but Reshiram needed her... So she wouldn't have really died, right?"

"In a way she would have to, as White Kyurem used more and more of its powers, and asserted itself more and more into absolute existence," Zekrom explained. "Hers and Reshiram's hearts are connected now. Just like mine and Jessie's. I would need your willful participation to become Black Kyurem, Jessie. Yes, your body may die soon after, but the power you put into our partnership would live on, and I'd be able to defeat Reshiram for certain, which has been our goal."

"Not like that!" James insisted.

"Yeah, really, Zekrom," Jessie said. "You're really delusional if you thought I was going to die for you. I only caught you because of what you could do for me, you know."

"That's right! And we don't really care about beating Reshiram either. That was your goal!" Meowth pointed out.

"Perhaps. But what you would have me accomplish, Reshiram would stand in the way of. If you want to use me for any of your goals, that pokemon must first be defeated," Zekrom said.

"That's right, isn't it?" Jessie said, looking down at Kyurem's pokeball again. "We knew that already. It's a pain in the ass though, isn't it?"

"It's not an easy task. But if I were to become Black Kyurem-"

"Enough with that," Jessie interrupted the legendary pokemon. "Kyurem is fine on its own anyway, isn't it? I bet this thing would impress the boss. Then he might believe us when we told him about you. Then he could decide what we'd do next, right?"

"Then you'd be at the same quandary, wouldn't you?" Zekrom said.

Jessie was silent. That was right. Even if they talked to the boss about it, it would be the same problem bothering them, wouldn't it. The question of if they should use Black Kyurem to overpower Reshiram and take over the region would still remain.

James looked over at the pokeball that Jessie held. "I wish you hadn't caught it, Jessie," he said.

"Huh? Am I supposed to see a rare, legendary, and completely disabled pokemon right in front of me and NOT catch it? Think a little, James." Jessie said.

"Then we shouldn't take it back to base. Or, we shouldn't tell them about Zekrom," James said.

"Why not?" Jessie asked, folding her arms.

"Because then they'll want you to use Black Kyurem," James said.

"Well, then I'd just refuse," Jessie said, narrowing her eyes. "No one will make me do what I don't want to."

Jessie turned around, and noticed that they'd acquired an audience. All the bystanders kept their distance but still stated at Zekrom up in the sky. They might be still deciding if it were even there, Jessie realized. She returned the legendary pokemon to its pokeball. "Let's go," Jessie said to her two companions.

"So what do you think?" Meowth asked once they were far enough away. "Should we just go to the boss and present Kyurem?"

"He might be pretty impressed," Jessie considered.

"He'd be surprised, at least," James said. "Since we haven't brought him back anything in a long time."

"We don't want that, do we?" Jessie said, glancing over at James and Meowth.. "Just a little 'surprise'. Maybe with people wondering how we got so lucky. No, we want to blow them out of the water with our undeniable success."

"How do you suggest we do that, Jess?" Meowth said. "Oh yeah, the way we frame it could work to our advantage. If we just write up the report the right way..." Meowth started to think.

"No," Jessie said firmly. "Zekrom is right. If we present this to the boss, we'll just be passing on the same problem we already have."

"Then-" Meowth began.

"I say we do everything just as originally planned," Jessie said. "Take over Unova, then really surprise the boss when we present an entire region to him along with a couple rare and legendary pokemon."

"But Jessie-" James began.

"We can talk about how to change our plans all we want, but that's what we really want to do, isn't it?" Jessie said.

"Pretty much," Meowth said.

"Meowth, stop!" James said.

"All or nothing, huh?" Meowth continued. "Yeah, we still haven't had a fair battle with Zekrom against Reshiram. If Zekrom loses, it'll be no loss, huh? We can't take it home with us anyway."

"When you put it that way, I don't like it," Jessie said, frowning. "I want to win. Black Kyurem will definitely win. So we'll just use that."

"Hey! No way, Jess!" Meowth protested.

"You'll die! Won't you?" James said.

"Haven't I already said I won't let that happen?" Jessie snapped. "That little twerp with Reshiram is still alive, isn't she?"

"That's only because she stopped in time," Meowth said.

"Exactly," Jessie said coldly. "So we can use Black Kyurem the same as they used White Kyurem. I'm no little girl, so I'll last longer. Long enough to win."

"That's exactly right!" Zekrom said. It released itself from its pokeball. "Oh, my new hero, I am greatly inspired by your fighting spirit."

"Fine," Jessie said, but pulled out her pokeball. "Just stay in your pokeball. We don't want to attract attention before it's time to fight, right?"

"As you wish, my hero," Zekrom said.

"It's too dangerous, Jessie," James said. "There's no where in this region that would help a Team Rocket member recover with no questions, either!"

"So I just won't let things get that bad," Jessie said. "It'll be simple. We'll just switch to and from Black Kyurem and Zekrom as we want to. That increase in power will be just what's needed to beat down that brat and her legendary pokemon, I bet."

"But-"

"Just stop worrying, James! It's way better and way easier than going to stupid Entralink! And we absolutely have to win," Jessie yelled.

"She's made up her mind, no point in arguing," Meowth said, patting James's leg. "Alright Jess, I'm behind you! We're going to win!"

"Thanks, Meowth. And what do you think, James?" Jessie asked, looking toward the other Team Rocket member.

"I-" James began hesitantly. He really didn't want Jessie to do this, but he'd already said that. She'd only get angrier with him. Saying she shouldn't or couldn't do it, it might be pretty condescending. So, even picturing Jessie crumpled in pain like that girl who caught Reshiram was, James forced a smile on his face. Jessie had always been really strong anyway. She knew her limits better than James did. "You can handle it, right, Jessie? You can handle anything," James asked.

"Of course," Jessie said.

* * *

Iris nervously knocked on the door to Bianca's house. Last time she'd been there, Bianca's mother had said Bianca wasn't feeling well enough to visit. Iris hoped it would be different this time, or that she wasn't being turned away for other reasons. She put on a smile as Bianca's mother opened the door. "Um, good afternoon. Is Bianca-" Iris began.

"Oh, Iris," Bianca's mother said. "I'm sorry about before. I really have to thank you for helping my daughter. I'm just really worried about her running off to do something else like that."

"Oh, it's fine," Iris said, nodding seriously.

"I guess I can't stop her if it's really what she's decided to do," Bianca's mother said sadly. "I know... Iris, can't you reason with her?"

"Reason with her for what though?" Iris said. "Bianca's not gonna go out there and start something up for no reason."

"Reason with her to step out of this conflict for good!" Bianca's mother said, then paused. "Well... I'm not sure even you could do that. She's got it into her head that this is something she absolutely has to do. So even though you are suited as a powerful trainer, she won't let you take over."

"Reshiram's already chosen the most suited person anyway," Iris said with a shrug.

"Please don't-" Bianca's mother began, raising her voice, though then she lowered it. "Please don't encourage thinking like that."

Iris nodded silently. Though she'd just said what she believed, Iris also wasn't going to argue with Bianca's mother like that. "Right. But Reshiram isn't the type of pokemon to be traded or given away at all."

"I know," Bianca's mother nodded. "But even if you couldn't have Reshiram, could you step in place of Bianca with the fighting? You are our champion, aren't you?"

Iris looked away. This was a pretty awkward topic. "I might be champion, but Zekrom beat me without sweating about it much. Hey-" Iris said, trying to get attention before Bianca's mother could jump to any conclusions from that. "It's not that I'm not a powerful trainer, it's just Zekrom's that powerful itself! But Reshiram was still able to stand up to it, so Reshiram's about the same."

That assessment didn't appear to please Bianca's mother, as she frowned and pursed her lips. As Iris was able to say something else, Bianca's mother smiled again. "Well, Bianca's feeling better today and I'm sure she'll be happy to see you. Why don't you come in?"

Iris nodded and did. She went upstairs and was happy to see Bianca sitting in an armchair in her room, Chandelure over her shoulder. Simisage ran around nearby, pulling books off a shelf as Bianca sat and read. "Hey there! I don't think Bianca likes you making a mess like that," Iris said, reaching for the book.

"Simi!" Simisage held the book away from Iris, then ran over to Bianca, handing her the object.

"Oh, Iris!" Bianca said. She reached for her glasses by the side table, then put them on, putting the book to the side. "It's good to see you. Don't worry about Simisage, I asked it to do that... I'll organize everything later."

Iris nodded, and pulled over a chair. She pulled up Bianca's books, not really caring to read them much. They all looked like factual books about pokemon, nothing fun. "So? Are you feeling better? What are you doing with all this, anyway?"

"I'm feeling much better, but I still get tired... Right now I'm doing research into history," Bianca said.

"Really? That sounds kind of boring," Iris said. "What do you need to know, anyway?"

"There are a lot of fun stories about Zekrom and Reshiram, but I want to find out what's considered historical fact," Bianca said.

"You can just ask Reshiram, right?" Iris asked.

"For its side, yes," Bianca said, then looked to her side, as if Reshiram would be standing there. "But I'm actually doing this for Reshiram. Reshiram wants to reveal the truth, and I want to help it... Without destroying Unova."

"Was Reshiram really serious about that?" Iris asked.

"Completely," Bianca said seriously. "I didn't know it at first, but that's what Reshiram thinks it needed to do to protect Unova... Expose the terrible way Unova was created, in a way no one could deny."

"So, do something else terrible?" Iris said, smiling wryly.

"I know," Bianca said, but then smiled. "Don't worry, I won't let it do anything like that. But I will help it find the truth, then find a way to share it with others."

"Did you find out anything so far?" Iris asked.

"Well, um, nothing insightful... Except, I'm understanding more and more that Reshiram and Zekrom, together or apart, they're really a very harsh pokemon."

"Aren't you afraid it'll hear you?" Iris said, looking around Bianca's somewhat cluttered room for where she might keep her pokeballs.

"It's alright," Bianca assured. "Reshiram can read my mind, since I'm its hero. It knew my opinion as soon as I thought it."

"No way! That's really creepy, Bianca!" Iris said.

"It's not as bad as it seems... To me, anyway," Bianca said. "But Reshiram also know that's just a hypothesis I have. Well, an opinion. About its harsh nature, I mean. I'm still looking for the truth. I'll find it without any violence or fighting, just like it wants."

"Right. Good luck with that," Iris said.

Iris sat in silence a moment as Bianca went around, picking up books. Chandelure followed her, and Simisage helped pick up what remained on the floor. Bianca stacked it up on her computer desk, then sighed and turned to Iris. "It really is nice to see you, Iris. It always is."

"Right," Iris said. "Bianca, can we pick up where we left off?" she said.

"Hm," Bianca said, seeming to consider it seriously. "Was there something we needed to finish?"

Iris blushed, slinking down into her chair. She'd meant the conversation they'd been having in Icirrus before Alder had come and rudely invited himself to join them, then everything else had happened. But what had they said then? Iris hadn't had a chance to say what she'd really wanted to say, just skirted around it by offering to be Bianca's 'bodyguard'. But now that she'd actually gone up against Zekrom, Iris knew she'd be a minor deterrent. It wasn't exactly what she wanted to be to Bianca, anyway. But hadn't Bianca said she wanted Iris back, too? "Um..." Iris said, frowning.

"I know you usually finish everything by yourself, so I guess I forgot," Bianca said, sheepishly putting a hand to her head.

"I don't," Iris said, starting to get upset. She swallowed, then tried to change her tone of voice, since she'd almost been whining. "Nothing I have I got by myself."

Bianca's eyebrows raised, patiently waiting for Iris to continue. Just like herself, Iris also had to rely on various people and pokemon, didn't she.

"Look, Bianca, ever since I came to Unova, I've gotten what I wanted. When Drayden came to the Village of the Dragons and met me, I said I wanted to go to Unova and so he brought me there. Then I got to meet all of these powerful pokemon and train my own to be even more powerful with all the competition. When I saw Drayden being gym leader, I decided I wanted to do that, and then I was a gym leader. When I found out what 'champion' meant, I wanted to be champion, and now I am. There's nothing else after that for a trainer, is there?"

"It's okay," Bianca said, patting her shoulder. "There's always more pokemon and fellow trainers to meet, right?"

"I guess, but that's not why I said that! Yeah, I'm champion! But like Alder said, so what?" Iris stopped, remembering that moment. She was celebrating her win, happy to talk to gym leaders and trainers from all over Unova at the party. Then Alder, her prickly predecessor, had come up to her, laughing and smiling in the annoying way he always did. "So, you really could become champion," he'd said. "Now what?" Iris recalled her silence. "Is there anything you can't do, Iris? Is there anything left for you to strive for?"

Maybe Alder hadn't meant to, but those words had filled Iris with a profound sense of emptiness. That's right, she'd thought, she was champion now. She had definitely earned it, worked hard, and fought her best with her pokemon... But that was it, wasn't it? At least as far as Unova's trainer hierarchy went. And was she really completely happy, completely satisfied with that?

Iris had a constant nagging feeling that she really wasn't. She tried to cover it up by telling herself she could be happy with this, no, that she absolutely should be happy... And in a lot of ways, she was. But then she thought back on what she'd given up to rush her way to the top, it often didn't seem worth it.

"You worked hard to become champion," Bianca said. "It's a great accomplishment. You should be proud of yourself."

"Yeah, but I'm an awesome trainer no matter what," Iris said. "Both you and Drayden thought that something horrible might happen if I came out. Maybe it would... But maybe not. If I could go back and do it again, I'd come out right away, and deal with anything that happened."

Bianca sighed, though she still smiled. It wasn't really that good an idea, but Iris's enthusiasm was something that Bianca had always liked to see. Besides, it didn't matter. What had happened already happened. "Iris, you can't though. Go back and do something else, I mean."

"I know," Iris said sulkily. "But I can change things from right now, though, right? So I really wanted to know... Could we pick up where we left off? I want to try being your girlfriend again! I'd be better at it better this time. Maybe I don't really want to be all public and open about it, but if people figured it out, I could deal with that too."

Bianca looked around, her heart beating quicker as she thought of Iris's offer, which really was tempting. It did seem like Iris had matured a little, understanding consequences better now. When they had been a couple 'officially', it had been nice too. "Um..." Bianca began, then swallowed. "I just didn't want to be the one to take everything away from you," she admitted.

"I know! I understand, I really do. And you never took anything from me or anyone else, Bianca," Iris said. Even when they hadn't been officially 'girlfriends', through the past few years, Bianca had still been a close and wonderful friend. "I understand everything now," Iris continued. "So I just want to know, do you want to try again? I mean, I understand if you don't, but-"

"Well..." Bianca began.

It was just then that Iris's phone went off, ringing loudly. She looked at it, seeing Drayden was calling her. Well, he could wait. Iris hung up on him. She opened her mouth to speak to Bianca again, but the phone rang yet again. Iris pulled it out and looked. "It's Drayden," she said. "It must be important." Drayden rarely called her, and never repeatedly like this. Iris went to answer it. "Hello?" she said.

"Hey, Iris!" The voice that came across the line wasn't Drayden's calm, matured one at all.

"Who is this?" Iris asked, getting an ominous feeling.

"Ah, sorry, my mistake!" the male voice spoke again. "It's me, Alder!"

"Oh..." Iris said flatly. So yet again, he was interrupting her like this. "What do you want?" she asked irritably.

"Ah, I can tell you're happy to hear from me. Drayden gave me his phone to call you. He said you might be visiting that pretty Bianca girl," Alder said.

"I am," Iris admitted.

"Oh, what luck! Too bad I had to call with bad news," Alder said.

"Bad news?" Iris repeated.

"Right..." Alder said. "Our 'friends' with Zekrom are going on a rampage. Drayden lost against them, then I had to fight them. It was a pretty difficult battle, I admit."

"What happened? You didn't win, did you?" Iris asked with mixed feelings. That's what he seemed to be implying with his admission that it was tough. Alder beating those criminals with Zekrom up would be good. But if Alder beat Zekrom while Iris had trouble just holding her own against it, she'd look bad and be really annoyed that Alder had been the one to outside her besides.

"No way! Zekrom beat my pokemon like knocking over some dominoes," Alder said sheepishly.

"Oh," Iris said flatly. Well, Alder did say he had bad news. It really would have been a good thing if he'd beat them, but there wasn't much of a chance of that happening in the first place.

"So, if you could have pretty Miss Bianca come over to Castelia City with Reshiram... Well, it's not the best option, but that seems to be our only option," Alder said.

"Hang on," Iris said. She put her phone on mute and explained everything Alder had said to Bianca.

"Oh, well, I'd like to avoid a fight... Reshiram fighting Zekrom always involves a lot of, well..." Bianca stopped, unable to think of how to describe it. "Well, maybe the best choice might be just to ignore them."

Iris nodded, then went back to the phone. "Hey, Alder. Bianca doesn't want to cause any more destruction by making Reshiram fight Zekrom. You can do something else, right?"

"Well," Alder began hesitantly. "That puts us in a tight spot, since we can't match them at all. There might be a lot of destruction caused anyway. That group with Zekrom is declaring itself monarchs of Unova, or something or other. They claim they'll use force to prove it if they aren't recognized... And they're in the middle of Castelia, with all those people around... You see our problem, right?"

"Yeah," Iris said quietly.

"Of course. So you'll be sure to tell Miss Bianca how imperative it is for her to help, won't you?"

"Fine, Alder," Iris said. Then she realized it was no time to be irritable, no matter how irritated she was. Alder, and Drayden who must also be there, must be under a lot of stress. Iris recalled how helpless she'd felt upon being defeated by Zekrom herself and again spoke to Alder. "I'll talk to Bianca about everything again. Don't worry about that."

"Thanks, Iris. Keep in touch," Alder said quickly.

Iris felt extremely tense as she hung up. "Alder... That guy's pretty pushy," she said.

"What is it, Iris?" Bianca asked.

"They want Reshiram there," Iris stated the obvious. "I can't win against Zekrom... Neither can Drayden or Alder. They can call in other people, but Zekrom is really way too powerful for one trainer, or even a bunch... So can't you go, Bianca?"

"Are you asking me, Iris?" Bianca wondered.

"Yeah..." Iris admitted. "Not because I want to. Just because it would be kind of irresponsible not to. There's a lot of damage Zekrom can do in Castelia, huh? Not to mention all around Unova if we just let it."

"I can't win either, though," Bianca said. "Reshiram and Zekrom's power is the same. Neither can win, and if we do, it's not a permanent win."

"I guess that makes sense," Iris said.

"I just want to stay home and stay out of it," Bianca said. "I don't want to do this kind of fighting anymore. I don't want Reshiram to feel like it needs to do this either. I'm trying to give it a different way to reach its goal."

"Even if you don't want to, that 'Team Rocket' group is starting things up anyway," Iris said. She grimaced. This conversation wasn't going exactly how she wanted it to either. They were supposed to be talking about getting back together maybe. Instead, Iris now had to try to convince Bianca to fight with her pacifist pokemon. Even if it sounded bad and Iris didn't want it, there were a lot of good reasons for doing so. "Yeah, you can't win. You're the hero of truth, so you know that, right? It doesn't mean you shouldn't fight, just because you can't win. The people over in Castelia should have someone defending them."

Bianca took a deep breath and then nodded. "That's right, Iris," she said. "I was just being selfish for a minute there."

"You really weren't, Bianca. Pacifism is something Reshiram itself stands for, right? You were acting as its hero," Iris said.

"Yes, but... Reshiram is the only one who can stand against Zekrom, isn't it?" Bianca said plainly. "So I really can't have Reshiram just stay away... It might not want to fight, but it doesn't want to do that either."

Iris nodded. "Let's go, then," she said. She and Bianca walked downstairs. As Bianca spoke to her mother, Iris avoided looking at them. Bianca's mother was never going to like her if she kept doing stuff like taking Bianca away to dangerous places, Iris reasoned. After a few minutes, Bianca nodded at Iris, and they went outside, ready to head to Castelia.


	13. Black Kyurem

**13**  
**Black Kyurem**

Jessie had always enjoyed having a captive audience. These people were just going to be future minions and servants of Team Rocket... Wasn't that what Zekrom had promised? Unova was a wonderful land where all ideals could be reached, including the ideals of their boss. If only one's own ideals were so easily imparted on others, though. Jessie walked around the fountain, where she had only sat before with her friends and dreamed of improving their status in the team. Now they finally really did rule Unova. They just needed to be sure to catch the residents up on the reality of things.

"Those guys from before retreated," Meowth said.

"I bet they have something else planned," James said.

"Right. We'll just deal with it as it comes," Jessie said. She looked to Zekrom in the sky, and then down to the Castelia residents, who had taken a break from their various busy occupations. From the businessman to the ice cream stand owner, they all had come to gawk at the intimidating pokemon that had just beaten their former champion and one of their most powerful gym leaders near instantly. They kept their distance, some looking at their own pokeballs, contemplating having their own pokemon fight, waiting for whatever it was Jessie would do next.

Jessie saw a commotion down the street. She squinted and tried to see why the crowd had gathered. It soon dispersed, and Jessie could see the two girls walking closer to her. She folded her arms and smiled. "Look who it is," she said, nodding toward their direction.

"Finally they showed up," Meowth said happily.

They all stared as Iris and Bianca came closer. Iris walked in front, the taller Bianca behind her. Jessie was please to note that Bianca looked nervous, frowning and wringing her hands on her hat which she held in her hands. As they came closer, Bianca did put her hat back on, then straightened her glasses, meeting eyes with Jessie only behind all of that.

"You're really trying your best to make a mess of things, huh?" Iris said.

"Maybe," Jessie said casually. "So, Reshiram finally shows up to counter us?" she inquired, looking toward Bianca.

Jessie had meant to intimidate the girl, but Bianca just frowned as she looked away. "I'll just ask you to stop," Bianca said. "We can battle, but it wouldn't help anything. Neither of us can win."

"Well, maybe you can't," Jessie said. "But I think _we_ can. So, battle me or surrender. It doesn't matter much to me. In an official Reshiram against Zekrom battle, just so there's no mistake," Jessie added poignantly.

Iris opened her mouth to say something, but then realized this wasn't her battle. She looked over at Bianca next to her, who had been standing in silence for a moment. Though she hadn't responded yet, Bianca looked toward Jessie seriously. "What will you do if I 'surrender'?" the new hero of truth eventually asked.

"Be the new rulers of Unova, of course. Our boss will be really pleased with that. And if there are people who don't recognize it, we'll make them," Jessie said.

"Well then, I'll have to fight," Bianca said, breaking eye contact as she looked toward her bag which had Reshiram's pokeball in it.

"Fine with me. Maybe the people of Unova will be so impressed by Zekrom's, well, Team Rocket's victory, that no other effort will be necessary," Jessie said, grinning as she got out her own pokeball.

Bianca looked up at Zekrom, then back at Jessie and nodded. "Go, Reshiram!" she shouted, throwing out the pokeball. She trembled a little as she watched the pokemon who defended the truth now floating across from its counterpart. Bianca clenched her fists as she listened to the two legendary pokemon roar at each other. She could do this, even if she didn't want to. Her own counterpart apparently did want to, she noticed. Jessie smiled, holding up her own pokeball. Bianca looked at her, confused. Wasn't Zekrom already out?

"Go, Kyurem!" Jessie shouted, throwing out her pokeball. Iris and Bianca were both shocked as the icy pokemon appeared in front of them. It roared, and the area around them became unbearably chilly, despite the fact they were in the final weeks of summer. Ice spread out over the ground, and the nearby fountain also froze over.

Iris was speechless for a moment, realizing her mistake of several weeks ago. As she'd been much more concerned about Bianca, the champion had just left Kyurem lying there after the battle. Iris clenched her jaw, thinking she should have caught Kyurem, even if it happened to be the only dragon type in the world she actively disliked. Of course they would have scooped this pokemon up, and then used it against them. "It's just like you thieves to have snatched up Kyurem, isn't it?" Iris said.

"Fair's fair, isn't it?" Meowth said.

"Even if it wasn't, we'd have gotten Kyurem anyway," Jessie said.

"Iris," Bianca began, reaching out to her friend as Kyurem stomped around before it roared out again. She put one hand on her hat, and the other on Iris's hand. "Please, get everyone to move away as much as you can!"

"Right," Iris said. It might be impossible to stop absolutely everyone from spectating nearby, as this was a big city. Still, having witnessed the last battle with Kyurem and how messy it had gotten, Iris knew why she had to try. She sent out her haxorus and hydreigon, then ran off.

"Are you ready, Zekrom?" Jessie asked.

"Completely," Zekrom replied.

"Go ahead then," Jessie said.

With a roar of both pokemon and a flash of light, Zekrom merged with Kyurem. Black Kyurem stood in front of Jessie, facing Reshiram, snarling at the other pokemon.

Bianca's eyes widened. She'd thought maybe Jessie had gotten Kyurem to obey her somehow, but instead she was trying this, even knowing the consequences? She'd die, wouldn't she? Bianca glanced toward Jessie, who still stood tall and smirked as if that consequence didn't apply. "Black Kyurem, attack!" she shouted.

"Reshiram! Fusion flare!" Bianca shouted as she realized that the battle was officially beginning. She'd have the advantage, wouldn't she? Since Kyurem was ice type, and Reshiram was fire-type, and could attack with those types of moves.

But Black Kyurem was faster, possibly because Jessie and Zekrom had been much more determined to start. Its ice type attack hit Reshiram, who cried out in pain. Even if it was a fire type, it was also a dragon type, which was very vulnerable to that ice, Bianca realized. Even so, Reshiram was still able to set off its fiery attack, which enveloped its powered-up rival. Kyurem waited until it faded. The attack hadn't seemed to faze it, only make it angrier.

"Black Kyurem, attack that coward once more," Jessie said.

"Reshiram, try the same move again," Bianca said.

Both pokemon powered up their moves. Jessie clenched her jaw, thinking of the ancient battle between Zekrom and Reshiram that she'd witnessed in memory. Just like then, the whole city became strangely lit, going into darkness before it lit up with both pokemon's attacks. Nearby, people screamed, starting to flee. That battle had been pointless, Jessie recalled, her stomach starting to turn. Zekrom had said that battle, along with many other like it, went on for days on end with no victor. No one could win.

But this as different, Jessie told herself. She had Black Kyurem, the powered up version of Zekrom. She just needed to hit Reshiram hard, over and over, until it was finally defeated. As Black Kyurem began a powerful attack for the third time, Jessie stumbled a bit. James reached over, putting his hand on her shoulder and grabbing her hand for support. "Are you alright, Jessie?" he asked.

"Just fine," Jessie said, pushing him away. She didn't want him to think that she was becoming weakened this early into the battle. She could support Black Kyurem well enough. She just needed to be sure to finish this battle as quickly as possible. "Black Kyurem! You'd better be making your attacks as powerful as you possibly can!"

"Of course, my hero," Black Kyurem promised as it continued to fight, again slapping Reshiram with its most powerful ice-type attack, then beginning to power up another dragon-type attack.

"Reshiram," Bianca said as she saw the powerful pokemon get hit. What could she do now? She not only couldn't win, but couldn't help Reshiram to even match its opponent.

"My hero, I will follow your instructions, but know that if this continues, I'll surely perish," Reshiram said, speaking only to Bianca through its telepathy.

"I know," Bianca said, though she fretted to hear it said so directly. "Please keep attacking, Reshiram. We have to protect the people here."

"What outcome do you hope for from this?" Reshiram asked, still privately.

Bianca frowned, though it was a fair question. She shouldn't allow any of her pokemon, including Reshiram, to take a beating like this without a reason. Bianca glanced from the battling pokemon over to the criminal who ordered around Black Kyurem. Jessie was leaning on James now, the energy being taken from her now finally starting to have an effect. Bianca didn't think that criminal would really die for the result of this battle. As soon as Jessie lost energy and Black Kyurem broke apart, they'd have an opportunity to do something else, or Jessie would be too effected to continue the fight. "Please, Reshiram, hang in here," Bianca begged. "I won't let you die, but we need to keep fighting for now."

"I understand," Reshiram said as it began its next attack.

"What is it Black Kyurem," Jessie said, irritated but feeling too weak to really be angry as she watched the battle where Black Kyurem and Reshiram both still tried to hit each other with their most powerful attacks. "Can't you finish this thing off quickly?"

"Eventually, yes, but quickly, no," Black Kyurem admitted.

"Hurry up," Jessie said, stumbling, and almost falling to the ground.

"Jessie!" James called, reaching out to support her as quickly as he could. Jessie managed to stand, now leaning against her partner purposefully. "Are you alright?" James asked.

"Just fine," Jessie said. She could handle this for a while yet, she told herself. "Keep fighting," she muttered to Black Kyurem. "Don't you dare lose! Knock out Reshiram!" Jessie shouted as loudly as she could.

Black Kyurem didn't respond, just roared and continued its attack. Bianca watched it closely. Iris walked behind her, having helped to clear away a large portion of the surrounding area. "Should I help?" Iris asked.

"No," Bianca said quickly. "Even a legendary pokemon like Reshiram is getting hurt this much. Your pokemon would be too," Bianca said. Not to mention then the enemy would probably get the idea to send out their own pokemon, and then things could get complicated. Maybe Iris would have an easy time following the battle then, but Bianca wouldn't, she thought to herself.

Iris nodded. "I know what you're thinking. That lady can't last forever, can she? Already she's looking like she's pushing it," Iris said, seeing Jessie leaning against James.

"Right," Bianca muttered. That was what she hoped at least, but it seemed already that Jessie might have more stamina when supporting Black Kyurem than Bianca herself had when supporting White Kyurem.

"Hey," Iris began, shouting over at Team Rocket. "You can't really keep this up much longer, can you? You might as well give up now!"

Rage entered Jessie at having been mocked like this by this young girl. She clenched her fist and stood up straight, trying to stand on her own power as much as possible. "Shut up, you brat!" Jessie yelled back. "I won't ever give up!" As she spoke, Black Kyurem unleashed its freezing attack, and the ground all around them covered in ice.

"That's it, my hero," Black Kyurem said. "Choosing you was the key to my success. You can show that failure Reshiram that the power of those who seek their ideals is superior!" As Reshiram tried to encase it again in its fiery attack, a wind surrounded Black Kyurem, and the fire blew away, dissipating and not changing the icy surroundings at all.

Black Kyurem roared in triumph. "It's those like Reshiram who will tire and fail before their goals are accomplished. How pointless it is to be angered by those who direct the world's inevitable change based on their own ideals!"

Reshiram roared in response, its anger obvious to those around. However, so was its fatigue as it began its next attack quickly, then missed Black Kyurem, the flame of its powerful attack now only a small puff of smoke.

"We're almost there, aren't we?" Jessie said. She felt relief, but then her own fatigue as her knees gave way.

"Jessie!" James shouted. He tried to help her to the ground so she wouldn't fall.

Jessie took a deep breath. "Just a little longer, then we'll win, right?" she said, looking toward Black Kyurem.

"Yes, we now have the upper hand. Thanks to my borrowed power from you, I'm losing no stamina. Reshiram will son be defeated," Black Kyurem informed.

"Good," Jessie said. She closed her eyes before opening them again, looking at the battle with a weak smile.

"Jessie, hasn't Black Kyurem had enough time, then?" James said. "Shouldn't it change back before you-"

"I'm fine, James," Jessie snapped, though she could hardly put any energy even into that annoyed statement.

"Make no mistake, my hero," Black Kyurem began as it slashed toward its opponent. "You will soon reach your own limits as you expand my own."

"You mean she'll die soon if you don't change back?" Meowth asked.

"Yes," Black Kyurem confirmed.

"Jessie, stop! Hurry! Make Black Kyurem change back to Zekrom!" James shouted.

"Yeah, maybe you should," Meowth said.

"But then I will lose the upper hand we have in this fight, and will feel the same fatigue as Reshiram," Black Kyurem said.

"That doesn't matter!" James shouted.

"However, with my hero's cooperation, soon I will reach my permanent state as Black Kyurem. Then victory will be certain," Black Kyurem said.

"Fine then," Jessie said.

"What?" Meowth turned toward Jessie.

"What are you saying, Jessie?" James asked.

"It's getting boring, always losing and starting over. With this, we'll definitely win, right?" Jessie said.

"Absolutely, and I will carry on your mission without fail, as your heart will become part of my own," Black Kyurem promised.

"Yeah, good," Jessie said. She looked from Black Kyurem and Reshiram's fight over at James and Meowth, who both gaped at her. "What's with you two? This is good news, right? Finally, you'll be successful."

"What about you, Jess?" Meowth asked.

"I'm part of the team, right? So I will too," Jessie said, closing her eyes.

"Stop, Jessie! Don't let Zekrom take away your life. It can't unless you let it, right?" James shouted frantically.

"Come on James, don't you have stuff you wanted to do after we finally sped to success?" Jessie said. Tears started to fall from James's face, and he didn't respond. "Yeah, you wanted to finally be able to take care of your brat, right? You'll be able to do it."

"I-It-" James began.

"Meowth, I know your dreams depend on this success too, right? You'll be super rich and powerful, ruling over a whole region. The boss will recognize you again, just like you want. So just smile and be happy about it, both of you," Jessie said.

"You really won't, will you, Jessie?" James asked, tears now streaming down his face.

"Yeah Jessie, just stop, it's not worth it," Meowth said.

"You're both being pretty loud," Jessie said, closing her eyes again.

"Stop, Jessie! Wouldn't this be a sacrifice? That's creepy, right? It's pathetic, isn't it? You said you wouldn't sacrifice yourself for me!" James said.

Jessie opened her eyes again, looking directly into James's. "I lied," she said.

James let out a shout, picking Jessie up and hugging her. "I won't accept it! Just like you, I won't accept it! So don't do it, Jessie. Please don't," James begged.

"We'll figure something else out without you doing something stupid like this," Meowth promised.

"Zekrom's just going to bother me for the rest of my life anyway," Jessie said.

"Then we'll get rid of Zekrom! It's not worth having it around!" James said. "Not if it kills you. I love you Jessie," he continued, as Jessie lay back, still saying nothing. "There's no success without you."

Jessie let out a small sigh again. "Fine then, if you're going to be so noisy about it," she muttered with her eyes closed.

"Jessie, are you alright?" James asked. As she didn't respond, James shook her slightly to jostle her awake. "Jessie? Jessie?" he demanded. He looked away from her only as he saw a flash of light. Black Kyurem separated again, into Kyurem and Zekrom. Kyurem lay on the ground, while Zekrom flew toward Reshiram to continue their fight, even with Jessie unconscious.

James placed Jessie on the ground as gently as he could, then stood up, holding two pokeballs. "Return!" he shouted. Kyurem and Zekrom both went inside them. James stared angrily at the pokeball that held Zekrom, then put it away. He could see that Jessie was still breathing, though otherwise unable to move.

"We should go," Meowth said.

"Right," James said. He started trying to lift up Jessie while thinking how quickly they could really get away with him having to carry her.

"I really do think that's quite enough."

James recognized the voice. Why couldn't they ever get away from this person? He looked up and saw not only Drayden, but also Alder and Iris standing there. "You've really caused quite a spectacle here," Alder said. "Was it fun?"

"With all of the property damage as well as the multitude of witnesses, I doubt you'll escape punishment from your crimes this time," Drayden said.

"Meowth," James whispered. He dropped the most important pokeballs. Meowth scooped them up and dashed away.

"Hey, wait!" Iris shouted, being the first to see it.

"Let it go, Iris," Drayden said. "You need to watch these two here until the police arrive."

"Right," Iris said hesitantly. She looked off at where Meowth had gone, and wasn't sure they could spot it between the fires and the frozen and toppled over trees here in the middle of Castelia City's park. Iris peered back over to Bianca. "Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yes," Bianca said. There was really no reason she wouldn't be. There should be more concern if Reshiram was alright. Bianca looked over toward her partnered legendary pokemon, which floated in the sky. Its face appeared to hold a cross expression, though it usually did. Reshiram had to be tired, but it looked alright over all. Bianca took out her pokeball and returned it.

Next, before her, Bianca would wonder if the city was alright. The park was certainly ruined. With Black Kyurem's icy powers used again and again, every plant nearby had to be dead. The fountain had been smashed at one point, and at several points the paved sidewalks were also cracked and ruined. Bianca's eyes widened as she saw that a nearby building was on fire - that had to be Reshiram's fault, didn't it? Before chastising herself for having allowed that, Bianca reminded herself that Black Kyurem wasn't holding back, so it might have been more dangerous if she asked Reshiram to do so.

"Jessie!" James shouted as he was restrained by several officers.

"She'll be tended to, don't worry," Drayden said. "You'll both be healthy enough for whenever your trial is."

James frowned, but then cooperated as he was arrested and eventually taken away, keeping a close eye on Jessie until she was out of sight.


End file.
